Comments on: open letter to the camera http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2011/12/26/open-letter-to-the-camera/ beauty. body image. womanhood. dessert. Mon, 20 May 2013 13:25:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Eat the Damn Cake » tired face syndrome http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2011/12/26/open-letter-to-the-camera/comment-page-1/#comment-55095 Eat the Damn Cake » tired face syndrome Tue, 17 Apr 2012 22:35:24 +0000 http://www.eatthedamncake.com/?p=3945#comment-55095 [...] And when I am tired, I look tired. I look worn. I sometimes look like I just crossed through a warzone, where I saw things that no one should live to see, and I am taking those things to the grave. Which is where I’m headed at the moment. My hair looks limp, my eyes are hollow, and there are shadowed dips in my face, trenches alongside my mouth, up to either side of my nose, where patches of dark have fallen asleep and won’t budge. There is no flattering angle I can turn towards the camera. There can be no cameras. [...] [...] And when I am tired, I look tired. I look worn. I sometimes look like I just crossed through a warzone, where I saw things that no one should live to see, and I am taking those things to the grave. Which is where I’m headed at the moment. My hair looks limp, my eyes are hollow, and there are shadowed dips in my face, trenches alongside my mouth, up to either side of my nose, where patches of dark have fallen asleep and won’t budge. There is no flattering angle I can turn towards the camera. There can be no cameras. [...]

]]> By: how to look good in pictures http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2011/12/26/open-letter-to-the-camera/comment-page-1/#comment-48576 how to look good in pictures Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:32:09 +0000 http://www.eatthedamncake.com/?p=3945#comment-48576 Looking natural in pictures is a great feat that one would definitely be proud of, so long as they comfortable with themselves and what they have. Yet how to look good in pictures will be an issue once a camera is focused on you. The awareness of the situation that you have will make you feel conscious about every single part of your body exposed to the lens. Looking natural in pictures is a great feat that one would definitely be proud of, so long as they comfortable with themselves and what they have. Yet how to look good in pictures will be an issue once a camera is focused on you. The awareness of the situation that you have will make you feel conscious about every single part of your body exposed to the lens.

]]> By: Aurora http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2011/12/26/open-letter-to-the-camera/comment-page-1/#comment-48532 Aurora Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:49:05 +0000 http://www.eatthedamncake.com/?p=3945#comment-48532 The camera lies so hard to me. I keep thinking I have a nice-looking face, maybe a little too round for my taste, but just in the lower cheeks. I have some cheekbones (which never really showed up until after college), and a decent chin, and a nice nose. And then the camera comes along and tells me my skin is flushing bright red and I have a double chin and my mouth is too small for my face. Wha? The camera lies so hard to me. I keep thinking I have a nice-looking face, maybe a little too round for my taste, but just in the lower cheeks. I have some cheekbones (which never really showed up until after college), and a decent chin, and a nice nose.

And then the camera comes along and tells me my skin is flushing bright red and I have a double chin and my mouth is too small for my face. Wha?

]]> By: Anna http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2011/12/26/open-letter-to-the-camera/comment-page-1/#comment-48099 Anna Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:35:13 +0000 http://www.eatthedamncake.com/?p=3945#comment-48099 That happens a lot to me. Like, I'll be having a moment where I feel pretty so I take a picture to document it, so that when I'm feeling ugly I will be able to see if I look the same as when I feel pretty. Except in the pictures I look weird and lifeless. That happens a lot to me. Like, I’ll be having a moment where I feel pretty so I take a picture to document it, so that when I’m feeling ugly I will be able to see if I look the same as when I feel pretty. Except in the pictures I look weird and lifeless.

]]> By: Kate http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2011/12/26/open-letter-to-the-camera/comment-page-1/#comment-48095 Kate Thu, 29 Dec 2011 04:19:23 +0000 http://www.eatthedamncake.com/?p=3945#comment-48095 And thanks for the info! And thanks for the info!

]]> By: Kate http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2011/12/26/open-letter-to-the-camera/comment-page-1/#comment-48094 Kate Thu, 29 Dec 2011 04:18:53 +0000 http://www.eatthedamncake.com/?p=3945#comment-48094 @Amy She is! @Amy
She is!

]]> By: Amy http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2011/12/26/open-letter-to-the-camera/comment-page-1/#comment-48087 Amy Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:10:15 +0000 http://www.eatthedamncake.com/?p=3945#comment-48087 Oh, and also? Your mother-in-law sounds like an incredibly marvelous woman. Oh, and also? Your mother-in-law sounds like an incredibly marvelous woman.

]]> By: Amy http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2011/12/26/open-letter-to-the-camera/comment-page-1/#comment-48084 Amy Thu, 29 Dec 2011 02:31:05 +0000 http://www.eatthedamncake.com/?p=3945#comment-48084 Okay, Kate and anyone else who'd like to radically shift her (or his!) relationship to the camera--not to mention to radically alter your body image for the better--I *cannot* urge you strongly enough to take one of Vivienne McMaster's self portrait classes: http://www.viviennemcmaster.com/course-information/ (Ignore the dates listed on this page--I know for a fact that a new session of Wading In is about to start, and You Are Your Own Muse will be coming up soon as well.) These classes are magical and profound on many, many levels. I could go on for pages about just how magical and profound they are (and I have done on my own blog, actually, if anyone cares to read more about my experience or to see some of the self portraits I've taken this year). But I'll spare you here! However: MAGICAL. And the effects, in my experience, and in the experience of everyone I know from Vivienne's classes, are not fleeting. If you really participate fully (and maybe even if you don't, I can't speak to that), these classes will change you. (I sound like an ad, I know. I'm really not! I just love Viv and her classes have created such a huge shift in me creatively and in how I see myself.) And finally, Viv has a real gift for creating a truly safe space and building an incredibly supportive and joyful community in which to do this work. Okay, Kate and anyone else who’d like to radically shift her (or his!) relationship to the camera–not to mention to radically alter your body image for the better–I *cannot* urge you strongly enough to take one of Vivienne McMaster’s self portrait classes: http://www.viviennemcmaster.com/course-information/
(Ignore the dates listed on this page–I know for a fact that a new session of Wading In is about to start, and You Are Your Own Muse will be coming up soon as well.)

These classes are magical and profound on many, many levels. I could go on for pages about just how magical and profound they are (and I have done on my own blog, actually, if anyone cares to read more about my experience or to see some of the self portraits I’ve taken this year). But I’ll spare you here! However: MAGICAL. And the effects, in my experience, and in the experience of everyone I know from Vivienne’s classes, are not fleeting. If you really participate fully (and maybe even if you don’t, I can’t speak to that), these classes will change you. (I sound like an ad, I know. I’m really not! I just love Viv and her classes have created such a huge shift in me creatively and in how I see myself.) And finally, Viv has a real gift for creating a truly safe space and building an incredibly supportive and joyful community in which to do this work.

]]> By: Kate http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2011/12/26/open-letter-to-the-camera/comment-page-1/#comment-48058 Kate Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:47:21 +0000 http://www.eatthedamncake.com/?p=3945#comment-48058 @Faith OK, so I felt bad about my terrible summary of what Bear's stepmom said, so I asked her if she might tell me again how she felt about spirituality/God. And this was her response. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did! "No one can know anything for sure, of course, about whether or not there is a God, and what happens after you die. Perhaps someday I will achieve a comfortable accord with Not Knowing, with the great uncertainty that we all face. Part of what living well is about is to be able to flow with chaos, change and uncertainty, and to know that we can’t control our world. But here’s what I’d like to think it’s all about: That everything that exists has meaning. That some intelligence, some entity perhaps, (OK, call it God) engineered the Big Bang, and set in motion whatever came after. That throughout the universe, God suffuses everything, but directs nothing. It simply is, and we are the result of one of its experiments, the Big Bang. I believe that all life shares in God, shares its meaning. God is in every molecule. (As my brother Steve would say, the world is composed of aware-ons.) That we are meant to lead the best lives we can, and that is our purpose. I believe that to grow and learn is to share more fully in that meaning, to approach God." @Faith
OK, so I felt bad about my terrible summary of what Bear’s stepmom said, so I asked her if she might tell me again how she felt about spirituality/God. And this was her response. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did!

“No one can know anything for sure, of course, about whether or not there is a God, and what happens after you die. Perhaps someday I will achieve a comfortable accord with Not Knowing, with the great uncertainty that we all face. Part of what living well is about is to be able to flow with chaos, change and uncertainty, and to know that we can’t control our world.

But here’s what I’d like to think it’s all about: That everything that exists has meaning. That some intelligence, some entity perhaps, (OK, call it God) engineered the Big Bang, and set in motion whatever came after. That throughout the universe, God suffuses everything, but directs nothing. It simply is, and we are the result of one of its experiments, the Big Bang. I believe that all life shares in God, shares its meaning. God is in every molecule. (As my brother Steve would say, the world is composed of aware-ons.) That we are meant to lead the best lives we can, and that is our purpose. I believe that to grow and learn is to share more fully in that meaning, to approach God.”

]]> By: Kate http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2011/12/26/open-letter-to-the-camera/comment-page-1/#comment-48043 Kate Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:37:18 +0000 http://www.eatthedamncake.com/?p=3945#comment-48043 @Ali Yes. Thank you. They really do! @Ali
Yes. Thank you. They really do!

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