“Every Body Has a Story to Tell“ If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, why are we fed so much imagery about what we are supposed to look like?” A series by R.A. Tinoko that challenges traditional notions of beauty and revels in the supple forms of the human body, (link below). 

I have just written an email to a charity I am working for. I wanted to introduce myself to the models. About 20 women would love to be photographed to raise awareness for Sam’s Diamonds - a charity in the North West who support women surviving cancer. They help them to build a new life and future. It made me think about how I am drawn to stories of transition. When life falls apart, how do we pick ourselves up and build a new one? I have been there. When I was about 27 my life fell apart, it was built on sand anyway. Denying my childhood abuse until it nearly killed me. I decided if I fell apart it was an opportunity to start over. You may have been there too, left one life to form another? Brutal and horrific isn’t it? Cross your fingers it doesn’t destroy you. 

My scars are on the inside. These women have surgical scars. They have been or are very ill.  “Everybody Has a Story to Tell” can you show scars and still show beauty? I believe so. I do it as a photographer often. Jude asked how I had made her look so beautiful and I replied that I hadn’t re- touched at all. That was the real Jude. Through my eyes. It does not have to be conventional beauty. Repeat. 

https://www.lensculture.com/articles/ra-tinoko-every-body-has-a-story-to-tell