One challenge I see in this time of life is that there are very few women, who see the beauty that those around them see daily.  When looking in the mirror each morning, with tired eyes and the stress that is carried from the day before.  Through our women’s photography their beauty is revealed.

The Beauty is still there, right there for all to see.

When I create a portrait, it is my privilege and duty, to discover who the person that is in front of my camera.  Not only to bring out the beauty that they want to see but to unveil the beauty that those that love them see.

Is it a passion, a strength?  Quiet beauty?  A vision or a journey yet to be traveled.

When that beauty is revealed it is more than a simple picture, it becomes an art piece. Something you are proud to share, display and pass down to your children.

Allow yourself to be viewed as the beauty that you are.

My challenge to myself is to go beyond someones outer beauty, and find what lies within.  We all have or have had adversity in our lives, the beauty is often revealed in how we overcome these adversities, this is where the beauty often begins.

When my sister struggled with cancer I saw a beauty that she would never allow herself to see.  The outer her, was gone to her… She had lost her hair, even though she had great wigs, and quite frankly I could rarely tell what was her real hair and what was her wig.  The beauty that she possessed was the fight in her the determination to make those around her better people for knowing her.  It wasn’t her goal it was what came naturally.

As she was fighting desperately with cancer,  she would wake up every morning, do her devotional reading and then proceed to write encouraging letters to those she felt needed lifting up that day.

We all have life changing events, whether it’s the loss of a loved one, or even waking up one morning and finding a job has disappeared. Or the kids that you have worked so hard to raise are off to college or married.  Some of these events will take years to overcome and others it becomes a battle cry to not just survive but to achieve. To conquer.  To inspire others.  Beauty of this kind lies with in all of us.