I’ll do anything to make her laugh, and I really do mean ANYTHING. I jump around. I make stupid faces. I tickle her until we are both in hysterics. I love that sound more than she’ll ever know, unless she has a daughter of her own one day.

I think about my daughter laughing, and how pure it is. She knows she’s loved. She knows she is beautiful, because I tell her every day. She doesn’t have body issues. She loves wearing clothes that are big and bright, and don’t match. She loves playing dress up in daddy’s shoes, mommy’s scarf, and whatever else she finds lying around. She’s super confident, rockin’ her camouflage slippers, lime green t-shirt, purple monkey hat and black jeans with her hair standing up in all directions. When she strikes a pose, she KNOWS she looks good. You can see it in her face.

I wish I could be more like her. I wish I could make all women feel as confident as she is.

That’s my “why.” That’s why I want to take gorgeous photos of women- not necessarily in camo slippers… but still. Somewhere down the road of life, we go from rockin’ whatever it is we are wearing with no makeup or coordinating to standing in front of the mirror for hours dissecting what we’re wearing, and how we look. We go from being sassy in dad’s big boots to crying because we’ll never be pretty enough, or sexy enough, or just enough. It’s heartbreaking for me. We tear ourselves down and tear ourselves apart. We forget how to feel beautiful. We forget what it feels like to look at a photo of ourselves and go “that’s me, and DAMN I look good!” We get lost in our negativity, and in never being happy with WHO WE ARE.

What is the bar that we all keep comparing ourselves to?

As a photographer with an intimate knowledge of Photoshop magic, I know that the photos I see in magazines are NOT REAL, and still I tear myself apart. The body image portrayed by the media today is totally unrealistic. For myself, I want to stop comparing myself to models and start comparing myself to Mia.

She’s confident even when she has ketchup all over her face. She’s the centre of attention with macaroni in her hair and when she laughs she brings the whole world joy. She doesn’t care what she looks like because she knows I love her, and that she’ll always be gorgeous, no matter what she’s wearing… and I’ll do anything to keep her that way, and to make her smile.