Dear Friends & Family,

Dear Friends & Family,
I'm not sure how often you visit my Flickr stream, but I could guess that a couple of things stick out.  Standing on Benches is weird, but fun (Some of you have played along).  Yes, most of my pictures don't show the kids' faces.  I don't like to ask for a Smile.  When I do, I only get a pissed off kid.  Some of you might say I take pictures of Nothing (I get it & I'm not mad at ya!).  And there are a couple of SP (self portrait) that have started to surface.  I've decided to take part in 52 Weeks of BAM.  Every time I hit the "Save" button, I worry about your thoughts.  In my head, I imagine you're saying a variety of things.  For example:

"Man!  Look at her ego!"
"I know that she used to have an addiction to ANTM, but geez!  She's way older than the contestants.  She's got a pot-belly & not even close to contestant worthy!"
"She thinks she's so hawt.  Whatever"

Maybe you aren't saying or thinking any of this, but I bet you are.  If I were in your shoes, I'd probably think something similar.  Taking & posting a SP is extremely difficult.  Standing with your family & smiling when the photographer says, "Cheese" is so easy.  Accidentally being in the frame when a cute kid scrambles by is simple.  But putting yourself out there isn't a walk in the park.  Especially when you're behind the camera 99.5% of the the time.  Read this for part of my reason for participating in 52 Weeks of BAM.  But there's an even simpler reason for my decision.

When I started to take pictures, I took pictures of commercially beautiful things.  A smiling kid or a juicy apple.  Those kinds of beauty are easy to see.  Everyone sees those.  The media points them out all day & night.  Your heart points them out.  But slowly something changed in my eye.  Unconventional objects became beautiful too.  A tampon wrapper or a bloody knee also holds a certain type of beauty.  Suddenly my idea of beauty grew & it's hard not to find a dozen beautiful things each day.  That line began to blur.  There was no commercial or unconventional beauty.  Beauty is just beauty.  And it isn't hard to find once you train your eye to seek it out.

If I'm taking your picture, it's because I think you're beautiful.  It doesn't matter if you've got a zit or aren't a size 0.  It doesn't matter if you think you're having a bad picture day.  I wish you could see yourself like I do: stunningly beautiful.  I owe myself the same Eye I give everything else. 

Today, I think I'm beautiful.

-Erika

p.s. Sorry for two posts in one day.  But if I don't put mine up now, I'd chicken out.