I have to admit that I was shocked recently. I found out that

Only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful – Dove

Dove went on to create a video to bring awareness about self image. I came across the video below made by Dove. I think it is amazing and conveys a message that I hope little by little is understood by all of us and adopted by our society in general. Beauty can be very subjective and applying rules to its definition can have such a negative impact. I believe that the way we judge our own beauty can be related to things that were said around us or even to us as we grew up.

I agree with what the lady said:

“I should be more grateful of my natural beauty. It impacts the choices that we make; the friends that we make; the jobs we apply for; how we treat our children; IT IMPACTS EVERYTHING”

In fact, I believe it impacts children a great deal. I have seen kids end up adopting their parents own definition of how they see themselves. If they grow up hearing negative and self conscious thoughts, chances are they will give emphasis to the same thoughts and look for the same characteristics in themselves; optimism breeds optimism just like negativity breeds negativity. We often find what we are looking for.

I love how the descriptions of the individuals are better and more beautiful than those given by the person drawn. I believe that a genuine friend could care less what you look like and more about what you do that makes that friend happy; how the friend can rely on you; how the friend can always count on you. These are the things that never leave and stay making a difference in people’s life sometimes long after we are gone. If you would like to see the extended version which runs about 6 minutes, you can click here.

A few months ago, Sarah and I took a class from the world renowned photographer Sue Bryce. We had our own expectations going into the class, but never could have we imagine the impact that the class would have on us. I can tell you that she photographed all of her students and all of them cried because the final images were not like they saw themselves. It moved me and showed me how photography can also make somebody realize and appreciate how beautiful they are. Sarah and I immediately thought of how cool GLAMOUR photography could be and what a good difference it can make in people’s life.

You can see the great comments the students themselves had to make about Beauty:

I had a great time, a couple of weekends ago at  photo community shootout. Tina Rodosta and her team were wonderful to have had provided hair and make up for all of the models of the day. You can check her out HERE.

Here are some of the images from the shoot.

I was really liking how the ferns were growing out of the wall.

I waited a little while for the sun to color the sky with these dramatic shades of red and oranges.