This Dove ad has been making rounds in the internet. And as a photographer I cannot help but relate myself to this.

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I take pictures of women all the time. All sorts of characters and all kinds of physical features.

First I have to admit that I still most of the time fall to the thinking of the common men, that ‘beautiful’ is the face and the body that we see on a magazine cover.

But like I said, as a photographer that photograph ‘real people’ and not models, I often encounter people that will not make it to your nearest magazine cover.

So are they beautiful?

I learn to say ‘yes’.

I say learn, because I still often failed to do so. But I know, I know, that this person in front of my camera right now is beautiful.

I just have to unlearn myself the definition of beautiful that has been taught to me all my life by televisions and magazines.

I have to find the right angle, look for the right moment, and capture that ‘beauty’ that maybe only a few people in the world could understand: Your family, your closest friends, and that person that is going to marry you.

You’re beautiful. Really.