We’ve all stared longingly at a photo of a male or female beauty online but then looked at ourselves in the mirror and had a sinking feeling inside.
We’ve all focused on the parts of our bodies we don’t like and bullied ourselves for our flaws.
Want to know a secret?
Even the perfect ones you’re staring at on Instagram feel that way too, many of them don’t look they way you think they do either.
Even though there are people out there who are natural replicas of Grecian Gods and Goddess’s, let’s not forget that the tricks of the trade that help them along their path are easy to learn.
Lighting, angles and editing.
Lighting: Get the right lighting in your pictures and it will hide patchy skin, give you an even complexion and throw shadows under those muscles making them seem more defined.
Angles: Taking a picture at the right angle and striking the right pose will ensure that your body is exposed in its most flattering form.
Editing: Making boobs and butts bigger, hiding the grey hairs and adding in a bit more definition to the abs since we discovered light manipulation in the early days of film cameras.
Let me show you how easy it is to make yourself look more like you get paid to post photographs of yourself and why you should absolutely NOT compare your personal standards and fresh bed hair to that which is plastered all over social media.
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This is what I see everyday
- Messy room
- Awful lighting – not the slightest bit flattering
- Bad fitting, mismatched underwear. (Hello cheek slip)
- No posing or tensing of the muscles, literally just standing square, front, back and side.
- Muffin tops
- Spare armpit fat
- Weird knees
- Big ankles
- Funny little feet
- Small butt
- No makeup/bed hair
- Absolutely no editing
- Not the slightest bit sexy
This is how I pick myself apart everyday, we all do it, it’s human and it’s normal but it’s also a very poisonous way to reflect upon yourself.
Now compare that pyjama body you see every morning as you’re dashing in the shower to that which you see online; the posed, edited and poised pictures. Feel bad huh? Well it’s easy enough to recreate, all you need is some matching underwear, someone patient enough to work through your tantrums and a load of slap on your face:
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I quite like those photos, now I bet you wouldn’t have guessed that I had a temper whilst taking them, almost had a panic attack too, felt horribly awkward being in front of a camera again after 4 years, had to be coaxed into taking that last one for about 10 minutes and spent the rest of the night depressed about how much I felt I’d let myself go.
Kudos to the other half for putting up with that hurricane.
This shit we’re force-fed online is a total mind-warp, I know there’s nothing wrong with the way I look in the grand scheme of things, but I’ve built up my own idea of what it needs to be from spending my life online and I’m sure you have your own ideas as well.
It’s shameful what psychological damage it does to some people, especially younger generations.
I have always made a point of posting good photos and bad photos and I’ve never been ashamed to show my face in a state less than perfect, maybe we should all start setting the same example.
