The best way to see ourselves a positive light is to stop to look at ourselves, often, and tell ourselves how badass + gorgeous we are. 

Which just so happens to also be the reason why I edit the way I do. I'm not one of those photographers that will take images of my clients and photoshop them until they look plastic. Why you ask... because images that have been overly photoshopped only make us feel good about ourselves until we catch a glimpse of the real version in the mirror. When we only look and share images of ourselves that have been altered we get this false sense of what we look like, so we when we see the real us, it has a largely negative impact on our self worth and confidence. 

So you might be thinking, well Tara, what do you edit then?

Just because I don't over photoshop or liquify, doesn't mean I don't do a good deal of editing. I still edit for color, style and lighting. As well as what I would consider a soft edit. I remove stray hairs, blemishes, bruises, and anything that will be gone in 2-3 weeks. What I don't do, is I don't remove or "smooth out" any aspect that is an everyday part of who you are. Now this doesn't mean I won't do a second round of editing upon request. There are times a client might want extra editing and that is always something I work with each client on individually. 

See it isn't that I don't know how to make my clients look like plastic versions of themselves, it is that I feel I would be doing them a massive injustice by making them look different then their beautiful selves. I want each of my clients to shine in their own skin, in their own bodies so that the confidence they gain from a shoot is real confidence. 

Trust me, it is so much more rewarding to see an image of yourself unaltered that makes you go, "damn I look good" than an overly altered one! 

In this spirit I'm sharing a completely unaltered image of myself, captured by my husband.