beauty is not your responsibility

Beauty is not your responsibility during a shoot.

You do not have to labor to “give” beauty in order to deserve being photographed. You do not have to perform for the camera. Some part of you is already beautiful simply because you are you, whether you fully believe that about yourself yet or not.

I think we also need to get more comfortable decentering beauty during portraiture altogether. It does not need to be the goal. It already exists.

What matters more to me is presence.