#1

An overcast & windy day greeted me as I treked to school lugging my usual weighty backpack and camera. I arrived at my school's equipment room looking less than presentable and asked to rent a light--"tapuz" or "orange" as they are called here, and proceeded to the second floor. I set up the mini tv-studio, not knowing exactly how I would photograph my first "love the pudge" shoot. As I screwed the light to the tripod, the rain began. A strong downfall of droplets splattered against the windows angrily--I pulled the black-out curtains across the windows and then pulled the set of white curtain across the adjacent wall. Just as I began to think she wouldn't show up because of the rain, she arrived.

Hair soaked and shirt dotted with raindrops, she began to ask questions. "So what do you want to shoot exactly?" Being a very open personality, she decided on her stomach as her biggest insecurity and immediately took off her t-shirt and camisole announcing that laying them on the table would allow them to dry faster anyways. I flicked on the "tapuz" and began to take some test shots. I was also nervous--this was my first time shooting a person in a studio, and here I was, photographing a classmate in only her bra and skinny jeans. I didn't exactly know what I was doing, but I knew the message I wanted this campaign to get across. I was fortunate to have such an earnest initiator to the campaign. She eagerly twisted her torso, grabbed her love handles--truly embracing her "pudge". After about 30 shots, I knew I had gotten the winning image.

She put her now-dry shirt back on, and we both packed our stuff up. It was a strange feeling knowing that I had just been allowed into someone's mind for a chunk of time--privied to their biggest body obstacle. As I took the light off the tripod and put the lens back on my camera, she broke the silence, "You know, that really was a liberating experience".