Embrace the Camera: You Deserve to Be Seen

The Truth About Being Photogenic

Most people hate photos of themselves. Fine. But here’s the truth: you don’t actually hate the photos. You hate how you felt when they were taken. Uncomfortable. Fake. Caught at the wrong second.

So, you decided you’re not photogenic. You turned it into a whole identity. You told yourself enough times that now it feels like fact.

It isn’t.

Photogenic isn’t real. It’s not a lottery some people win and you didn’t. It’s comfort. That’s all. Comfort looks like confidence when the shutter clicks. And guess what? Comfort can be created.

I see it happen every single week. Someone walks into the studio muttering that they’ll hate every shot. Thirty minutes later, they’re laughing, rolling their eyes, and forgetting the camera exists. And when we scroll through the images, do you know which ones they pick? The ones where they dropped the performance. The unguarded ones. The “I didn’t know you caught that” ones. Always.

That’s the truth nobody tells you. You don’t need to be “photogenic.” You need to be seen.

Your Camera Roll Tells on You

Open your phone. Go on. Scroll through the last year. How many pictures of you are there? Not your dog. Not your partner. Not the plates of food you thought were impressive at the time. You.

And it stings, doesn’t it? You’re missing. You’ve been so busy ducking out of shots, volunteering to hold the camera, and laughing yourself off to the side. You think you’re protecting yourself from bad photos, but all you’re doing is carving yourself out of your own life.

Later, when you actually want proof you were there, you’re gone.

Photos Aren’t Vanity

They’re records. Proof. Evidence that you lived here, in this skin, at this age, with that exact laugh.

They’re bookmarks in time. A reminder of how your twenties felt. Or your forties. Or the week you cut your hair short and hated it but secretly looked fantastic.

Nobody looks back and says, “God, I wish there were fewer photos of me.” Nobody. They say, “I wish I’d let people take more.”

So let them.

Stop Waiting for Confidence

Here’s the biggest lie people tell me: “I’ll book a shoot when I feel confident.”

That day doesn’t exist. Confidence isn’t a delivery waiting at the depot. It doesn’t arrive on its own.

Confidence is what you get after you step in front of the camera, not before. You earn it by letting yourself be seen.

Every time someone waits, they’re putting off the thing that would actually help. And years pass like that. Whole seasons of life are missing from the record because you were waiting to feel ready.

Newsflash: you’re never going to feel ready. Do it anyway.

What Really Happens in the Studio

You probably imagine stiff poses, fake smiles, and standing in front of a blank background wondering what to do with your hands. Sounds like torture, right?

That’s not what we do.

We put music on. We talk. We move. You’ll laugh at something silly. You’ll relax without realising it. And I’ll wait for the moments between. The half-smile after the laugh. The second you forget the camera’s even there. That’s where the real stuff lives.

The photos you’ll love won’t be the “perfectly posed” ones. They’ll be the messy, crooked, too-honest ones. The ones that look like you.

The Legacy Part (Brace Yourself)

Photos outlive you. They just do.

One day, the only thing left will be the pictures. Harsh, maybe, but true. And when that day comes, what will people find?

A life where you hid? Where you ducked away, held the drinks, and stayed behind the camera? Or a life where you showed up? Where you laughed, wore the jacket, and let yourself be seen?

That’s the choice.

And don’t tell me it doesn’t matter. Think about how much you treasure that old photo of your nan, or your dad when he was young, or your best mate at eighteen pulling a silly face. They didn’t think it mattered either. And yet here you are, holding on to it like treasure.

You deserve the same.

Permission Granted

If you’ve been waiting for someone to give you permission, here it is. Take up space. Be in the photo. Be the main character of your own story for once instead of hiding in the background.

Stop telling yourself you’ll wait until you’re thinner, happier, calmer, or more “together.” You’re already enough. You already deserve to be seen.

Right now. Messy hair, tired eyes, laugh lines — the lot.

The Critic in Your Head

Here’s the truth: nobody is analysing you the way you analyse yourself. You zoom in on your own face like you’re searching for clues to a crime. Everyone else is too busy worrying about their own reflection.

The things you think ruin a photo? They’re often the things people who love you find beautiful. The lopsided smile. The crease when you laugh. The wild bit of hair.

That’s you. That’s the version everyone else already adores.

So maybe stop robbing us of it.

Stop Hiding

This isn’t a pep talk wrapped in a bow. It’s a blunt reminder. Enough hiding. Enough waiting. Enough shrinking yourself down so you don’t have to see the evidence later.

Because the evidence is the point.

Step into the light. Step into the frame. Exist where you belong.

---

I’m not here to sell you on anything. I’m here to remind you of what you already know deep down: you deserve to be seen.

And if that makes you squirm a little… good. Growth usually does.

So laugh, move, roll your eyes, swear at the camera if you want. But let yourself be photographed.

Because later, when you look back, you’ll be glad you did.