Who Am I? #OurProject52 Week 1

Even though I often have a camera in my hand, I rarely turn it onto myself. Sure, when my hair is done and my makeup is just right and I have my contact lenses in, I’m camera ready and able to take a photo with my husband, kids, a friend, or family. However, if you look through my photo stream on my phone or computer, you rarely see a photo of just me. In my 20’s it was a different story. I was working, going out, having fun and always camera ready. I had a ton of self portraits (aka selfies) and people probably thought I was full of myself.

However, I don’t normally like to be seen in my skin. You know, glasses on, no makeup, hair undone. Just me. Nope, no way. Not happening.

Now that I’ve gotten older my preference is to shoot my creations: food and my kids. Food is so pretty, and so are my kids, so I’d much rather take photos of them than of myself. I’m older, my face doesn’t look how it used to, my pores are larger from years of bad skin and my weight has increased as I’ve gotten older and had more babies.

The self that shows in those photos just doesn’t look the same as it used to.

But you know what? I’ve grown to learn that that’s ok. I’ve lived. I have many experiences that have shaped who I am.

I’m a mother. A wife. A daughter and a friend. I’m a woman.

I’ve grown to like who I am. I look at this photo and see many flaws. But I also see what’s behind those eyes. Experience, pain, joy and love. I don’t want to hide that with a fake smile anymore, I want to present myself to the world with self acceptance, love and self confidence.

I’m quiet. I’m passionate. I’m sarcastic and funny. I’m loyal and loving. I’m strong, I’m tough and I’m honest.

I’ve had a fancy camera for over a year now, and I’ve mainly only shot food and a few candid moments of my family. I’m interested in diving deeper, so I’ve joined Our Project 52, a photography project with Everyday Eyecandy and Lipgloss & Binky where we take one photograph each week with a specified prompt. This weeks prompt is “Who are you?”. Interested in joining? Check out their pages and link up or look up the hashtag #OurProject52 for more!

*The above photo was taken with my Canon 60D and my Canon 50 1.8 lens.
I used a tripod and remote.
Settings – Aperture: f/4.0 – Shutter Speed: 1/400 – ISO 6400