The Real Beauty Project - **NSFW**

Hope you go through with it!!!! Id love to see what you come up with :)
 
just came across this thread. don't know how I missed it!
it is a great idea and kudos to Betty for do this. I think it's very progressive and reactionary to the double standard of magazines.
Love the shot of you on the bed. was it deliberate to mirror your ink with the pattern on the wallpaper?? very nice.

The funny thing is, this whole matter is a sore point for me...and I'm a bloke.
I think women's magazines are even more guilty of representing women in a false light than male magazines. Most men will hear..."oh no I have celulite" and will say..."so what?" or accept that women aren't as they are portrayed in their photoshopped fakeness. Frankly if we get to see such 'imperfection' close-up, we're pretty grateful.

My favourite story is of a friend of mine. Lovely young lady, good photographer who did her dissertation on the female form, and how it is misrepresented in the media. Great shots of her, semi-revealed through careful lighting compared and merged with a fashion manequin. Very clever stuff I thought. Thought provoking and technically excellent all done on medium format....(will link if people wish to care)

However, once, whilst walking down the street with her and a few friends I remarked subtley (ha!! not a chance! I'm a bloke remember) to the adjacent male friend that a young lady was rather lovely. Summer dress on, loving the sunshine. She was a summer beauty, all curves and flowing grace (not a boob tube hotpanted tartlette, although I don't object too much :p)
Anyway my female friend, who had campaigned in her own way for women to be accepted as they truely were asked pointedly "who??"...I indicated.
Considering all of this and that she herself was, I considered, a minx and a foxy girl her comment was "her bum is far to big"
My point? or rant?? that women judge themselves far too harshly. Inspite of all the negative effects of airbrushing it is my belief that women take it to heart more than men take it seriously. /end of rant

back to the plot, keep it up
 
Its my thread? I did say I was going to revive it once in a while? :shrug:
 
thats what i mean its good Betty, i've missed this thread :D i think its awesome what you doing
 
Chris Reed said:
I saw a difference in what i read and what i saw, and was asking about clarification, i thought that making the shoot show a 49, would have been an active decision made by Betty, and wanted comment, or at the very least some thing i did not understand explained.
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Sorry if this is answered later in the thread. I haven't finished wading my way through it yet - only saw it today!

It's a simple matter of arithmetics Chris. The tape says 49, but as Marcel pointed out, where it crosses is NOT at zero, it's at 13. 49 minus 13 is 36. The tape also does not go straight round the waist, but diagonally upwards, so it will measure slightly more than the real measurement, which Dee says is 34" and that makes perfect sense.

BTW Dee, this is one fantastic project and one I highly approve of. I have two body-conscious teenage daughters (19 and almost 18) - both very beautiful but they're both convinced they're ugly in some way, despite my best efforts to promote the opposite. Mind you, my own insecurities probably haven't helped them. For example, I should post a more up to date avatar of myself, rather than a picture of me seven years ago when I was slimmer.
 
petemc said:
Its very brave of you to really put yourself out there, literally for all to see.
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I actually agree with the person who said Dee isn't brave. Courageous yes, but to suggest that it's brave is almost like perpetuating the myth that she should keep her curves hidden.

She's right to be proud of them and so the "brave" label somehow doesn't quite fit.
 
Brave? Nah. Confident? Of course :)

There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance, I like to think I know the boundries :)
 
I'd love to see other people adding to your thread Dee. As an obese (due mainly to essential steroid meds) woman who is having to learn to love my curves, I am almost at the point of being tempted to do some similar work with the help of my hubby, when he's got his studio set up.

You're an inspiration Dee!
 
Mrs Cowasaki said:
I am almost at the point of being tempted to do some similar work with the help of my hubby, when he's got his studio set up.

You're an inspiration Dee!
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If you ever fancy a chat about it, PM/MSN/Facebook me, Id love to encourage you through it! It makes you feel almost powerful once you take the first step :)
 
Ok...I'm gonna put in my 2 penneth too (and I said that I was going to do some stuff...so...)

I'm a plus size crip lol, I now have a remote trigger so can do self portraits, how can I make a sexy, glamourous image that's not slutty - or at least not too slutty my boobs are 2 sizes bigger than the rest of me and I'm not a skinny mini! Any suggestions on poses, lighting, etc? I have a white and a black background.

I used to love my figure, but since becoming a crip I kinda have major hang ups about my tummy mostly.
 
MagicMynx said:
Ok...I'm gonna put in my 2 penneth too (and I said that I was going to do some stuff...so...)

I'm a plus size crip lol, I now have a remote trigger so can do self portraits, how can I make a sexy, glamourous image that's not slutty - or at least not too slutty my boobs are 2 sizes bigger than the rest of me and I'm not a skinny mini! Any suggestions on poses, lighting, etc? I have a white and a black background.

I used to love my figure, but since becoming a crip I kinda have major hang ups about my tummy mostly.
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If you're unsure about your tummy, why not do a head and shoulders shot to start off with? Something like this...

http://www.deegregory.com/dee/dee9.jpg

Can still be sexy and glam :) Well done for giving it a go! x
 
Ok, I'll try that, a head, shoulders (and probably boobs LOL - it's the one thing that I've always liked about my body). Maybe in a corset or something, we'll see... and I'll have an image up in a couple of days.

Where should people who are joining in put their pics, Betty?
 
Just spotted this too, and I commend you. I'm trying to work on an article myself for my work in progress blog which is going to revolve around womens magazines/weight/etc. I have a thought I'd like to add, and not sure how many of you knew this.

Get this: you know those pictures of fantastic looking men in the front of men's health/body magazines with the fantastically ribbed bodies and almost bone hugging skin? To achieve that look they dehydrate themselves for something like 72 hours before the photo shoot. Very healthy eh!

Betty, I'm 100% behind you, and I commend your bravery. You've got yourself a fan :D
 
karmagarda said:
Just spotted this too, and I commend you. I'm trying to work on an article myself for my work in progress blog which is going to revolve around womens magazines/weight/etc. I have a thought I'd like to add, and not sure how many of you knew this.

Get this: you know those pictures of fantastic looking men in the front of men's health/body magazines with the fantastically ribbed bodies and almost bone hugging skin? To achieve that look they dehydrate themselves for something like 72 hours before the photo shoot. Very healthy eh!

Betty, I'm 100% behind you, and I commend your bravery. You've got yourself a fan :D
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blokes and bloke/health magazines are just as guilty of this sort of thing..I agree.
I no longer read mens health magazine but seeing a cover recently in a supermarket made me laugh. Some chap on the front, obviously in great shape was then subjected to the most clumsy and dodgy airbrushing of his abs I've seen in ages. would love to find the pic as it was laughable.
 
Id like to see it as well, Photoshop Disasters throws up some corkers from time to time :D
 
Betty said:
Thanks to Marcel, I have been given the ok to post in here rather than Nudes and Glamour :)

As some of you are aware, I am currently working on The Real Beauty Project. This is something I have thought about for some time, and I am now ready to embark on this (hopefully) painless journey :D

All my life, I've seen airbrushed figures in magazines, we have had it drilled into us that big is not beautiful, and god forbid you should have an hourglass figure and stretchmarks. Because we all know that REAL beauty is skinny, tanned, silicone implanted models right? Wrong.

What I hope to achieve with this project, is to hopefully open your eyes to my interpretation of real beauty. Just because I am a size 14 with a big bum, and small boobs, does that mean I cannot be beautiful? I will hopefully get the ball rolling in a couple of days, and I hope to post an image every few days or so, until I feel you have been brainwashed thoroughly ;)

I must also point out, I am not asking for C+C on these images, as this is not about the processing, but the subject. I hope some of you know me well enough to know that I am a good person, and a few dimples and stretchmarks doesnt matter anymore :)

Please feel free to comment in the meantime, Id love to hear your opinions on this, and fire away with the questions, nothing makes me blush :D
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:clap: :clap: :clap:

now i am going to read the rest :)
 
It's ideas like this one that makes this forum awesome. :)
 
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