Questions for photography Educators: When you use plus size bodies is it only to show how to pose/light/style "curvy" bodies? Or do you use plus size bodies when showing tutorials that have nothing to do with the body type you are photographing? ------------------------------------- My first educational tutorial was called Confident Curves - essentially a posing guide dedicated to showing "how to" pose plus size bodies - but in all actuality, it should have just been called Confident Posing because it was the same poses I did with smaller bodies just showing them on fat/plus size bodies. In most of the photography education I've seen, when folks feature plus size bodies it's to specify their plus size-ness, yet, the creative tutorials we create range from lighting, to makeup, to styling, to posing and aren't size specific. To show how to use a 2 light set up - you can use any body, yet most lighting tutorials feature smaller bodies. To show a specific makeup look or hairstyle - you can use any body/face, yet most are done on smaller faces. To show how to photograph a wedding dress in natural light, you just need a body wearing a wedding dress. To explore set building, fabric draping, or using neon lights - you don't NEED small bodied folks, any body will do. Even posing doesn't have to be size specific (which I used to think it was) but rather it is dependent on the individual. It usually has more to do with flexibility than size. And flexibility is not size specific (and if you think it is, you may want to question your assumptions about fat bodies and abilities) Showing fat/plus size bodies doesn't always have to fall under the guise of "curvy" specific tutorials - you can use these bodies for your tutorials without drawing attention to the fact that you are. So, the next time you are working on creating creative educational content consider diversifying the bodies you use to teach a specific skill WITHOUT drawing attention to their body size/shape/etc. This is how we start to normalize bodies just being bodies and models just being models.