You Don’t Need Permission to Take Up Space

We’ve been thinking about all the ways we learn to disappear.

We don’t call it that, of course. We call it waiting.

We say:
“I just need to lose ten pounds first.”
“Once I have more time, I’ll do something for myself.”
“After the holidays… after work settles down… after the kids are back in school.”

We convince ourselves we’re being practical. Patient. Responsible.

But really?

We’re avoiding being seen.
Not just by a camera… but by ourselves, and those that love us.

And somewhere along the way, we’ve absorbed the idea that we have to earn visibility.
That we have to perfect ourselves before we deserve to take up space.

We push the version of ourselves who is too soft, too tired, too emotional, too real… into the background.
We try to shrink (literally and metaphorically) so we don’t make anyone else uncomfortable.
So we don’t risk being seen before we’re “ready.”

But what if you didn’t have to wait?

What if this version of you - exactly as she is today - is worthy of being witnessed?

What are we teaching others?

Here’s the thing that hit me hardest:
When we wait to show up in our own lives, we teach others to do the same.

When we hide from the camera, from our dreams, from our fullness, we pass down the message that being seen requires perfection.
That presence must be earned.
That beauty is conditional.
That confidence has to be justified.

I don’t want to pass that legacy on.

I want my children, my clients, my community to know:
You don’t have to shrink to be worthy of love or visibility.
You don’t have to delay your joy.
You don’t have to disappear in order to belong.

The Power of Being Seen

Portraiture is more than an image.
It’s an act of reclamation.

When you choose to step in front of the camera, as you are, not as you “should” be - you are choosing to stop waiting.
To stop shrinking.
To stop apologizing.

You're not doing it for vanity.
You're doing it for visibility.
For your story.
For your future self.
For the people who love you now, and the ones who will remember you someday.

You are allowed to take up space in your own story.

If You’re Still Waiting…

If this stirred something in you, we want you to know:
You’re not alone.

We know how scary it can feel to be fully seen.
To show up in your softness.
To say: “This is me, right now, and I am enough.”

But we also know how powerful it is.
How healing it can be.
How it can change the way you move through the world, and how the world sees you.

So if you’ve been waiting…

For the weight to drop.
For the timing to be better.
For permission.

Let this be your reminder:

You are the permission.
You never needed to wait.
You are worthy of being seen - just as you are.

Right now.