There is one thing that a lot of us are doing that often stops us from being photographed, and it is COMPARING!
Comparing ourselves with everyone else out there…
We are comparing ourselves with other PHOTOS. And as we discuss before, photos are not a reality, so we are comparing ourselves with the structures. Structures that often has been created with full photographic crew, lighting, outfits, equipment, and photoshop… I’m sure you have heard it before but people don’t look like photos in magazines, and the majority of Instagram famous people look completely different in real life!
We are all extremely influenced by visual media that has created the ideal beauty image in our mind. And we all know why these images have been created – to sell us more stuff that we don’t need. Most of the marketing is based on creating insecurities in people. Oh! You are not thin enough, your skin is not smooth enough, your hair is not shiny enough, you better by THIS and THAT will help you 😉
But let’s get back to photos… Maybe you are not comparing yourself with the movie stars and models but you might simply compare yourself with your friends (or Facebook friends)…
And they might be editing their photos too… You have seen so many photoshopped photos of your friend that you gave up… You are no idea how to use photoshop or slimming down and beauty filters on your mobile phone but everyone else around you is successfully using it! So, you have chosen not to be photographed as you don’t know how to edit your photo… Because suddenly there is an expectation that you need to look like those edited photos! But did we all forget the original purpose of photos? What about creating memories? Share stories? Do they all have to be photoshopped? Are we constantly entering beauty competition?
We are half-living in the digital world, I don’t think we can avoid being photographed but what we can do is to be authentic with others and most important with ourselves. Creating an online avatar for yourself that far away from your self-image can cost you an anxiety! Unfortunately, the gap between your self-image and online avatar can create even more insecurities…
We are all different! And we are attracted to different people. Even if we think about super-models, we are still like or don’t like some of them. Realise, you can’t please everyone but you need to stay true to yourself.
The moral is “Be Yourself, everyone else is already taken”