The first and likely the last portraits I will take this year will be of Danielle. These ones in particular are from the latter instance back in November and they’re a far cry from the former. Our first time photographing together produced really solid images but Danielle felt otherwise. There was something about the first set that didn’t feel right to her, something was off and it was largely intangible because she had some trouble putting it to words. See, from the outside looking in it’s incredibly easy to praise someone’s appearance, to mark them off as perfect, flawless, or even go as far as wishing you looked like them. What most people can’t see and grasp is that they experience the very insufficiencies you feel within yourself about yourself; they are not unique to you. Often times the issue lies deep beneath the skin in a person’s own perception of the world and of themselves. I believe there is an innate beauty to people, in people, but being the one taking the photographs, I’m not always privileged to their struggles and I can’t expect that my skewed appreciation of their portraits can actually impact how they feel about themselves. People need to be given the time and space to not be okay, and when she mentioned after the first photos this year that the images didn’t make her happy, instead of persecuting her I simply allowed her to just be. Danielle, I don’t know what you did between February and November but I know it took time, effort, and a profound amount of trust in me to do right by you. I’m proud of you for not shying away from the “stage.” I’ve left a link to her set in my bio if you’d like to see more.