Fashion photographer Rick Guidotti once only photographed top models from fashion capitals such as Paris and Milan, but turned his attention to photographing disabled people to show the public how beauty can be reinterpreted. In a recent NBC interview he says: “It’s about having an opportunity to see beyond what you’re told and what we’re forced to believe that is beauty.”
Guidotti understands the power an image can hold in terms of defining what beauty is. He was a fashion photographer in Milan and Paris and in his New York studio for top fashion editors. His career changed directions when he had the opportunity to photograph a woman with a disability. In doing research for a photo shoot he was appalled at the images he found of the disabled in medical textbooks and he wondered where the humanity was. He saw that there was an opportunity, as well as a need for society to consciously realize that disabled people are not less human because of their disability.
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In 1998 Guidotti founded a program called Positive Exposure’s PEARLS Project. This foundation is an interactive, educational program for K-12 students, educators and health providers to empower and be a self- advocacy program for children, adults and families living with disabilities The program apddresses “the need for society to understand and respect children and adults living with genetic, physical, behavioral and cognitive differences.” It is unique in that not only are the individuals with “genetic, physical, behavioral and cognitive differences encouraged to teach the world about their life from their unique perspective” but also their families. This is achieved through an image gallery, online blog, videography, and a question and answer section on the website.
Positive Exposure – www.positiveexposure.org
A Beautiful Body Project – www.abeautifulbodyproject.com
“Written accounts of their journeys from self-doubt to body confidence, will appear” in the book. The photographer says that the concept was inspired by her own fears that have plagued her throughout her life. She told HuffPost “As a teenager I suffered from feelings of deep unworthiness. I had acne and I was unable to look in a mirror for nearly three years, unless it was by candlelight. …I gained 50 pounds with my pregnancy and that added to my personal history of oppressive self-loathing in a culture that praises mostly photoshopped images of women in media.”
Beall, much like Guidotti, is striving to change the way women and beauty is looked upon. She hopes that her photography is “medicinal” for both the moms who participated in the project as well as society. Beall aspires to create more books for other taboo topics such as aging, cancer, and eating disorders. Beall says that “My dream is to be a part of a movement of being kind to ourselves and others and witness a generation of young people that no longer waste years of precious life on self-loathing”.
