Showing skin...

I put up a picture I took a while ago in a red dress and it had an interesting response where a lot of my other photos have not. Now don't get me wrong all the comments felt good, in fact I completely loved them, they did get me thinking. I wasn't a pretty girl growing up, or at least in my mind I wasn't. I was rather thin, straggly and massively clumsy. I loathed taking pictures...I have four beautiful sisters, and compared to them I fell rather short in the beauty department. I had my mind, my art and my writing and I felt those were solid enough to make up for what I lacked in looks. Needless to say I wanted to break into the industry without having to put myself under the camera that often. I realized how wrong that thought was. The Con floor is a place for fantasy, a vehicle of myth facilitating trips into other worlds with dashing nights and beautiful ladies, superheros and goddesses--so of course dropping my clothes (well almost all of them) and smiling for the camera was part of the job. Something strange happened. With all the cameras flashing I started to feel beautiful. The more beautiful a girl feels the more it shows on her face. No my features didn't change but I find myself not cringing at every photo. I accept my flaws, I believe in the end they give us each an unique beauty that is only ours. Maybe it's okay to show a little skin...we are after all in the arts :)