Photography seeks to capture moments in time

''Typically I wouldn't let anybody take photos''

Mary-Ann loved opening another side of herself for her glamour photoshoot with me.

- a timestamped reminder of where we were or who we were with. It serves as a permanent, immutable showcase of our lives. Snapshots weave themselves into collections or albums that serve as the fabric of our lives. Many are kept private but always backstop our waning memories as children grow or the landscape changes. For some, sharing or even appreciating a photo can be difficult - privacy aside the simple fact is that we often are unhappy with how we look in our photos. As a photographer, my goal is to use the power of this medium to showcase my subject in a way that exemplifies the qualities that make them truly gorgeous. I look to highlight their personality, their confidence, their spirit. Their true beauty. The things that we all see when we get to know someone, but the quick photo from a phone isn’t equipped to capture.

Through this project I’ve tried to reinforce beauty, inside and out.

'I think a beautiful smile and inner beauty makes people beautiful. I think what makes you happy brings out your beauty.'

Meet Mary-Ann - strong, courageous mother of two young men.

Like most moms, she usually finds herself on my side of the lens, responsible for taking the obligatory photos of her family. She has been the rock for her family, working hard her entire life to provide for her loved ones, often sacrificing her own aspirations and goals. This part of her seldom shines through in the photos she is in.

As her boys have grown up she has maintained her strong work ethic taking on new and challenging roles and progressing her career in ways that weren’t available when her boys were younger. She’s now a coordinator in the oil sands and is part of a ground swell of women professionals occupying roles previously dominated by men. She’s making a difference and is providing inspiration for other women contemplating a similar career path.

When she is not in the field, she has channeled her inner entrepreneurial spirit and launched her own small business selling bath and body products. She infused the same drive in this work as she has in everything she’s faced and success is definitely on the horizon in this venture as well.

She’s a mother, aunt, sister and friend to so many people and without exception they see her strength, drive and loving nature.

In the mirror or in the photos she sees only in two dimensions. The x-y coordinates fail to tell the whole story but her you only need a moment in her presence to feel it - and her photo shoot with me screams it. A beautiful smile and eyes that speak to a life well lived, a life to be proud of, a life to be captured and embraced! From her devotion to her boys, to her constant presence when friends or family are near or need a hand, to her relentless push to drive her career forward, Mary-Ann oozes gorgeous, I think you will see this too. She was a pleasure to shoot and I’m jealous of everyone who gets to share her company!

Photography provides a two dimensional timestamp unless the subject is so much more dynamic. I love bringing these other dimensions to the surface for us all to enjoy! You’re gorgeous Mary-Ann and now you can see what we see!

'I want the world to see that an everyday woman can be beautiful.'

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An Everyday Woman Can Be Beautiful