Perception is everything.
A million years ago when I photographed families, I used to tell mums that it would be great if they were in photos with their kids. A lot of the times they shied away from the camera, worried about their weight, or the way they smiled, or simply felt self-conscious about the way they looked.
But here’s what’s important… they were looking at themselves through a narrowed vision; through tainted eyes. They weren’t allowing themselves to see the bigger picture of who they were. If they stopped for a moment and considered what their kids would see when they looked at their mumma bear, everything would change.
Because I can guarantee, in years to come when we are old and wrinkled and maybe even not here anymore, our kids and grandkids will look at photos of us and smile. They won’t see the creases at our eyes, they won’t see the nervous smiles, they won’t care about our clothes—they will only see us the way we were to them.
They’ll see a nurturer, they’ll hear our laughter, they’ll think about that time we sung out of key just to make them laugh. They’ll see our beauty—our true beauty—all the inside gooey stuff.
These words don’t have much to do with the photo, except that it’s a different perspective. It’s a different angle of the world and me.
Where am I? On a beach surrounded by reeds? On a mountain top in tall grass? Or standing on my gravel driveway with my camera in a bush?
I don’t think it really matters.
The way you perceive yourself and the world does matter, though.
