February seems to be the month of love with many things that are PINK! Pink flowers, pink lingerie, pink chocolates and candies, and …PINK SHIRTS. In fact, the colour pink stands for “I appreciate you”! Pink gives the feeling of gratitude, grace and admiration.
However, while the 14th of February is all about romance and lovers that dates back to the Middle ages, PINK SHIRT Day, is all about kindness and self-love. A globally recognized movement to end bullying in all its forms.
Creating Pink Shirt Day
Pink Shirt Day originated in 2007 in the province of Nova Scotia. A new 9th grader walked into school wearing a pink shirt. That simple pink polo shirt sparked a group of students to physically and verbally bully the young man for wearing pink to school. We can only imagine the trauma experienced by the young man on his first day at a new school!
Fortunately two brave young seniors, Travis Price and David Shepherd saw the situation as an opportunity to set an example and take a stand against bullying. That night they purchased 75 pink tank tops and released a call on social media encouraging their fellow students to show up at school wearing pink! In a school of approximately 1000 students “700 to 850 kids showed up wearing pink. It was incredible!” says Travis.
Seeing the Beauty Within
The unfortunate power of bullying is prevalent in Canada, with an estimated one in three adolescent students bullied during their school years. It’s not just bullying at school that teens have to contend with. There is no escape when the abuse follows them home on social media. And it can be hard to see our own beauty, especially when others are telling us we are ugly from the inside out.
Bullying is abuse and victims can experience withdrawal from friends, family, and schoolmates; upset stomach; nightmares; exhaustion; panic attacks and more.
So, when one is shattered by the experience of bullying, how do they learn to see their own beauty again?
The KEY – Looking at Your Own Picture
Sairyn, a recent client, exemplifies this experience. Sairyn’s mother, Rochelle, painfully watched as her 13-year-old daughter deteriorated from being bullied, “My beautiful daughter had been told on numerous occasions very hurtful things such as “you are fat and ugly” It was really beginning to take a toll on her overall self-image, and self-worth.”
Now, I’ve taken countless photographs of clients who come from all ages and walks of life. I’m used to hearing, “I never seen myself like that,” when, in fact, all I do is use my experience and lens to show what has been there all along – each subject’s natural beauty. But how can such a beautiful young girl only see but how others – the bullies – see them?
As Rochelle aptly describes that as parents we all, “make a point to emphasize that it is our internal beauty that makes us beautiful, that the outside just isn’t as important as being a good and kind person, but I had had enough! It makes me sad that anyone should need to illustrate to someone that their outside is as beautiful as their inside.”
I must admit that the power of a photograph cannot be understated. I’m not photographing something that isn’t already there. But here is the key… sometimes it takes you looking at your own picture to recapture your confidence.
Sometimes Words are NOT ENOUGH
We set to putting together a plan – a tastefully and tactfully 50’s Photo Shoot, and we executed it perfectly. Rochelle and Sairyn describe it well, “when we saw the final reveal I was driven to tears. It showed my beautiful daughter, without a doubt, that she is incredibly beautiful on the outside too. The look of pride and confidence on her face when we left that day from Irene’s studio it told me that I had done precisely what she needed.
“Sometimes words are just not enough; seeing is believing!”
For me, portrait photography is more than taking pictures. It’s about showing you everything you are, whether or not you see it yourself. It’s transformational and changes lives!
