Own Your Outtakes

Earlier this week, my real life friend and blogging bestie, Allison, shared a photo of the two of us in a post for NC Blogger Network. This photo:

She totally had my permission and I loved it. I laughed when we were posing. I laughed when she wanted to share. I laughed seeing it in the post, on Facebook, etc.

Amidst this I saw where she thanked me on Facebook for allowing her to use it and added the hashtag “#shesagoodsport.” It got me thinking, how many photos do we not like of ourselves and ask to stay hidden. Please don’t share. Please don’t post. Please don’t tag me. Hundreds?

Lucrecer Braxton gave an excellent session during the Type-A Conference about photography and touched on the subject of people being their own harshest critics. She gave tips for how to help your subjects pose to enable them feel their best and highlight the pluses instead of the areas we all tend to pick at (our waist size, double chin, posture, etc.). Deborah Gilboa and I joked around later with Lucrecer about striking the pose and following through on “owning the shot.” Here’s the photo Lucrecer got of us in that moment:

Again, I love it. I tagged myself on Facebook and happily let it show up in my personal timeline. Why? Because it’s real. It shows a moment of pure fun and enjoyment on our parts.

No, I don’t always like every photo ever taken of me. No one does.

I’m too fat. I’m slouching. I have a goofy smile. My one eye is more scrunched than the other. My hair is wonky.

I get it.

But I’m over trying to dodge or hide from them.

I want to show my children (especially the little daughter I will soon have) that we are so much more than how we think we look. That regardless if I looked my best or what I consider my worst, I was there, I was real, I lived.

Some of my best photos are some of the craziest (like those taken last weekend or the selfie above where Dylan was using a balloon to mess with my hair). They represent me. The real me. Not the fake, strike a pose, perfect smile me. The honest to goodness, living life, enjoying every moment and just being me me.

And I totally own that.