Photographer, Jade Beall Talks About Loving Your Body, A Beautiful Body Project and Her Book The Bodies of Mothers

When you caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror this morning, stepping out of your shower, what did you see?  Did you see a powerful, executive? Did you see a woman with experience? Did you see a mother, wife, sister and CEO? Did you feel beautiful? Did you feel powerful?

If you are like many throngs of women who passed the looking glass this morning, it’s likely that you didn’t stand in front of the mirror lingering over your perfect stretch marks, loving your pimples or smiling admirably at your somewhat sagging breasts, lopsided breasts.

Raised on “Dress for Success” and taught to package ourselves carefully to be seen in a particular light by the powers that be, women easily learned to feel uncomfortable in their own skin. Airbrushed and Photoshopped photos are the mainstays of everything fashion. Each ad portrays powerful, beautiful women, not as they naturally appear, but as they desire the world to see them, carefully touched up to look “just so.”  I hope that through the photographic and unaltered art of Jade Beall, tomorrow you will view your body differently.

Tuscon, AZ photographer Jade Beall felt unattractive, unworthy, unlovable in the weeks immediately following the birth of her son in 2012. She inherently knew that her body—even with a few extra pounds post baby—was an amazing body, capable of creating another human in nine months time. In March 2012, to take back the power over her feelings of inadequacy, Beall photographed the new version of her body at just 5 weeks post-partum and posted it to her website and social media. She shared her completely non-Photoshopped, self-portraits, along with her story of “trying to squeeze herself into the ideal of what someone is supposed to look like.”

Beall’s inspiring story is what happens when your passion for something is allowed to grow from simmer to spark to full combustion. Passionate about photography since her high school photography class, Beall said, “I wanted to go to photography school after high school but I couldn’t quite afford it.”  Instead, she traveled through Central America, came back to the United States and decided to go to massage school. For 15 years, she was a full time massage therapist who did portraiture on the side. After her move back to Tuscon six years ago, her clients asked more frequently for her photography services—to the point where her photography organically grew from side business to career.

Following the birth of her son in 2012, Beall was already in the midst of a natural transition– having taking time off from her massage business to adapt to motherhood—when she posted the self-portraits that re-charted her course and her destiny. Beall’s original intention was to take back her power by demonstrating to herself and her social media world that she accepted her post-baby body for what it was a testament to her recent motherhood. The universe, it would seem, had a much bigger plan.

“All of a sudden, photography just dominated. All of these women were like, ‘Let’s do this; I want to be photographed’ and there was no time for massage therapy anymore.”

“Because of being a massage therapist for 15 years,” Beall said, “I feel really intimate with people and I kind of already understand the body in a different way.” That natural intimacy lends itself to her portraiture. The real advice here for business women, in addition to the need to follow your passion, is that you know what you know, and you can use that knowledge in ways you might not have thought possible.

Beall has reached out to an expanded group of women in a quest “to actually honor our true diversity.” Daily, women post their photos and stories from childbirth to cancer, to become a part of this living tribute to the natural beauty of women.

“All bodies are worthy of praise,” Beall said. Women from as far away as Australia, agree with her and have requested Beall come photograph them. The first photo Beall posted to social media, after her own portrait, went viral. Women have rapidly embraced her work and her mission. That mission—to honor women’s bodies in their natural state without retouching them—morphed into A Beautiful Body Project.

Out of A Beautiful Body Project also evolved Beall’s first book, The Bodies of Mothers, a collection of photographs of mothers’ bodies in all their glory. One image depicts a small child tracing the c-section scar on his mother’s abdomen. As if by magic, Beall captured the wonderment, the blessing, that scar represents, without the oppressive tears or discouragement that a body is no longer beautiful because childbirth has ravaged it.

The production of the book was beautiful too. Beall located a printer in Vermont who printed the book on sustainable paper in a 12” x 12” format. The first edition is nearly sold-out and a second printing is already in process. Order a copy of The Bodies of Mothers, and Beall will autograph it and add an inscription if you choose. (Beall autographed copies of her book during our interview.)

Beall has already lost count of the hundreds of women (and men) that she has photographed, but the requests keep coming as more women from big cities to small towns around the globe embrace A Beautiful Body Project. Beall has started interviewing Regional Photographers who submit photographic samples in the hopes she will select them to participate by submitting their own photos and stories for the project, which is quickly becoming a worldwide movement. “The collaboration process is so awesome, it is powerful to share our uniqueness…It’s awesome to expand our consciousness and to see what is truly beautiful in this life,” Beall said.

Our adult view of what exemplifies beauty is a learned response. Beall said, “…at 5 years old, we did not question that we were amazing. We were like, ‘Look at me! I am amazing’.” If we are trained to appreciate the stretch marks and scars as beautiful–instead of embracing the belief of various advertising campaigns that convince us we need to get rid of them–we won’t need to “fix” things that are just a part of life.

You may not be a mother, or plan to become one, but all women should embrace the powerful message that Beall has to share. Women’s bodies, scarred, stretched, sagging and pockmarked deserve to be revered, not reviled.

Beall desires for women to see themselves clearly and to be true to themselves especially in their business lives. She understands the struggles not only to feel worth, but also to feel worthy of success. “Not only have I struggled since I was about 10 years old with feeling unworthy of being beautiful, but also, consequently feeling unworthy of being successful. I am still battling that.” She advocates for “talking yourself into it” on the days that you just don’t feel powerful or authentic.

“Keep working from your heart.” Be very clear, about what you want. What is it exactly that you want? Be super clear. Your self-dialogue gets you through the scary moments, like the moments Beall had before she posted her self-portrait. The women who came to her asking to be photographed, Beall said, “…helped me heal. We all validate each other and that helps us grow as a collective.” Her ‘sisters,’ as she refers to the women that she photographs for A Beautiful Body Project, helped her believe in a different story, a success story. Through her photos, she helps herself and others to learn about “loving the whole self” not just a number on the scale or a vision in the mirror.

Clothing, shoes, and the right acccessories are a fun part of our business lives, but they are the icing. If you don’t feel it from within, the designer suit you’re wearing won’t matter much. If you cannot love your body with its flaws, you are icing a bad cake. Do not Photoshop your authentic self out of your life.

Author’s note: So subtly pervasive is our programming toward perfection, that despite my own weight battles and commitment as a journalist to tell Beall’s inspiring story truthfully, I found myself mentally eliminating images as my brain reflexively categorized them as worthy or unworthy of posting with this article.

Photos courtesy of Jade Beall’s amazing book, The Bodies of Mothers