8 Women Photographers on Feminism, Confidence & Photography

For International Women's Day, we've lifted some of the most telling and relevant quotes orbiting around feminism, confidence and photography, and how they all relate to each other from contemporary women photographers.

Jordan Bunniie and the woman photographer's role

"When you take a picture of a woman and you show her the things that you find beautiful about her, it can change the way she feels about herself forever."

Tamara Lichtenstein on not being "feminine" enough

"I never felt pretty or girly enough, so I expressed my wants through my photography. As I grow older, it seems to be more like “femininity, light, and love.”

Brittany Markert on battling objectification

"Surely the expectations of the female body, the alterations in photoshop and the shallowness I witnessed in the fashion industry traumatized my understanding of the female body. My desire to start taking pictures came out of a very negative time in this industry (fashion) in which I had to keep reminding myself that a woman’s worth is her mind, not her measurements or her face... My goal is to make timeless work and in some abstract way communicate a universal thought. The nude body is a timeless symbol and thus nudity represents being human in my work."

Jessica M. Kirk on working with female models

"I like to gauge the model’s story or personality so I can bring that to the forefront of the shoot. I’m a huge proponent of body and sex positivity, so that translates into the models feeling confident. Yes, society is becoming more comfortable with nudity. Though there is a long way to go. Feminism, body and sex positivity movements are helping to dismantle stigmas."

Roberta Tocco on gender equality in photography

"I love the delicacy of women, but I do not exclude to photograph men in my life. I found inspiration in beauty, don't care if it's a boy or girl, young or old."

Kayla Varley on the the true self

"I don’t think women should be afraid of showing their true selves. When we have the space to be who we really are, and we are not afraid, we flourish. I hope that someday we can shape our society so that women don’t ever think twice about their appearance or behavior - we have the right to act however we please."

Lana Prins on normalizing the nude female form

"I’ve always been very fascinated by the nude human body. Shooting people nude has always felt natural to me. For me it’s surprising to see how nudity and sexuality can still be so offensive to many people. There are still so many taboos about the female body and the female sexuality. People are very easily shocked by – what for me seem to be – some of the most normal, natural things."

Hollie Fernando on self-perception of the youth

"I think it’s extremely hard to be a young person growing up these days with all the false advertising on what ‘perfect’ should be everywhere you look. Who even gets to decides that? Young kids don’t realise that even the photos on their idol’s Instagram have most likely been retouched before uploading. They’ll see these images every day and when they look at themselves in the mirror and don’t see the same it really affects them on so many levels. What’s worse, if someone never teaches them the truth or how to self-love, then they’ll have these hang ups for life! It’s very upsetting to think about."

2017-03-08 #culture #people #inspiration #international-women-s-day #international-women-s-day-2017