Elizabeth came to me after seeing images from a previous session that I had photographed. She had never booked a session just for her, but saw the beautiful images of the other client and thought, “Why the heck shouldn’t I do this too?” And so she did.
During my editing process I had a lot of time to think about women in general, but more specifically – middle-aged women. I’m currently 43 and am in the thick of middle life myself. As an photographer, I work closely with so many ladies in this same stage and have noticed that we all hold very similar feelings about ourselves, about middle life, about aging. I can’t tell you how many times I have had ladies cancel or put off a session because they felt insufficient to face a camera or because they feel guilty doing something for themselves.
I get it. We are older and there is no escaping time. No matter how hard we work at it, how much money we spend on skincare, we are not 20 anymore. It’s just a fact. Menopause is looming, we’re stressed, juggling teenagers, working so hard, and facing a lot of unknown. I mean, just the concept of suddenly having an empty nest is a giant, tumultuous river we have no choice but to forge. And all that hard-earned wisdom, all the life we’ve lived, all the struggle and joy, come with wrinkles, looser skin, and soft curves. But the real problem is not that we are growing older, it’s that we so often believe that as our youth slips through our fingers, it makes us unworthy. That somehow now that we are not needed in the same way, that we’ve become less relevant. I think we all know in our heads that isn’t true. But our hearts hold onto something entirely different.
I’m not saying that running out and booking a photoshoot is the answer, but if you are like Elizabeth and it is in your heart to do, then just as she asked…why the heck should you not? At any age. At any size. But specifically, at THIS stage, why not? We are in full bloom, ladies. Being 20, having no cellulite is not what actually ever made us beautiful in the first place. (Although of course those things were nice. Ha.) Who we are, how we treat people, the way we laugh, the way we feel, those are things that make us beautiful. And we are worthy of celebrating. It’s not selfish! If your teenagers roll their eyes and call you a main character, let them. Because girl, YOU ARE. You always have been, you always will be.
When Elizabeth first saw these images, she gasped and said that she looked breathtakingly beautiful. And of course, that’s easy for all of us to recognize about her. But she discovered what it’s like seeing herself from an outsider’s perspective, not in a role as a partner or mother or sister or friend, just as she is, with all the hats put aside and layers peeled off. Her sexy, kind, bold, vivacious self. Just Elizabeth. Celebrated.
