It doesn’t look like me. But it is you, beautiful.

Scared/terrified – these are sometimes the words my clients use to describe their feeling before coming to the studio after they confirm the booking.

We sometimes have very reluctant clients who would only come because they were strongly encouraged by their partners to have their photos done with us.

Some clients are ‘slow burners’ who are, at first, in denial about how beautiful they look with a repeating comment like ‘It does not look like me’ while looking at their photos at the back of my camera during the shoot. My repeating response then is ‘But it is you standing in front of me’. They then would realise the plain fact – They are beautiful in their own way.

The beauty we saw today was incredible. I hope she could now see what we saw.

[update]

After I posted this message with the photo in my Facebook page , the client wrote a very long and heart ranching comment. Here I placed it in verbatim.

Songy, let me tell you my story.

As a teenager I was bullied by the boys at school. They called me “Mack Truck” for most of the time I was in high school. I was quite sporty, had a basketball scholarship, played netball and tried my hand at many other sports. I had quite a bad ankle injury at the end of year nine, and this was my out – I had an excuse to quit my basketball scholarship and not have to spend so much time around these boys.

I’m also from a single parent family. Raised by my mum, but always searching for my dad’s approval. He would introduce me as his “smart daughter” and my sister as his “beautiful daughter”. Now while I now recognise that this was his way of complimenting us, I always saw it as he calling me ugly and my sister dumb.

There is no doubt I was an awkward teenager, but these words from those hateful boys and my lovely dad have stayed with me 20+ years after they had been said. This is why I have never seen myself as beautiful.

I am now trying to teach my boys to be respectful and instil some of those old style personality traits that aren’t seen so much these days – to be chivalrous, romantic, and to hold their tongue if they don’t have anything nice to say. My sick little man’s face lit up when I arrived home yesterday, he kept looking at me and smiling, telling me how beautiful I was. This to me is all that matters now. Thanks for yesterday, I’m looking forward to seeing the other photos.

When I got this message, I was just parking my car near where I was supposed to meet someone. Of course, I couldn’t get out of the car as tears were streaming down my face. It was very hot outside and I had the car engine turned off so I had messy tearful face with sweat rolling down my back. I only wished she was able to share the story with us during the shoot so that we could give her a hug. It is me being rather selfish. I guess that sharing her story this way more people get to read and get touched by it.

Very few people ‘waltz into the studio’ for a photo shoot with us even when she wanted to do it in the first place. It is incredibly overwhelming having to face a camera. Claire did it and she shared her very personal story with all of us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I cannot wait to show you the rest of the images from the session.

 

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

Hello!

Hi, my name is Songy, your Personal Brand Coach & Photographer. I help you create a brand that represents who you are and what you do so that you can grow your business. I’ve moved well away from thoughts of having the ‘wrong’ personality or being an introvert, and now I’m helping everyone who is not comfortable being visible to become visible and flourish in the marketplace. My clients love my direct, no-nonsense approach, my off-beat sense of humour and my caring nature. Connect with me by signing up to receive my weekly marketing insights and personal branding secrets.

Your face. Your story. Your brand.

A personal brand playbook for professionals

You may also like

Related Posts

Scroll to Top