The following awe-inspiring words were written by Katie Scott, who's portraits I captured last summer.
'Nowadays we are taught that self love and confidence no matter what your insecurities may be is the key to living happily and healthily. Whilst this is something I wholeheartedly agree with, I think sometimes this message can pile on more pressure than intended. It is very difficult to suddenly 'love your body' when you are still facing a world of prejudices and conflicting health messages and pressures. I think what is more important for people who are struggling with self confidence is self acceptance. It is far more important to see your body for how it is, and to allow yourself first to just be. Acknowledge your insecurities but don't let them hold you back. Make sure you still do all the things you want to do. I'm not there yet, but this is probably the first step towards true confidence and comfort within oneself. And acceptance doesn't necessarily mean resignation, change is ok, but you have to make sure you are changing for the right reasons.'
'As women we are socialised to view our natural bodies as inadequate. The natural state of being for a woman is never enough; beauty is seen as perfection and perfection is unobtainable. No matter how hard you try to conform to culturally imposed beauty standards, your body will never be deemed perfect, and these constructed ideals are changing constantly so that women in some shape or form are always excluded from being 'beautiful', no one can consistently be categorised as perfect. Because of this it is so difficult for women to be able to see themselves as beautiful in their natural state. It is one of the hardest things for women to learn, but also one of the most important.
