How can we truly see ourselves for who we are?
For the past few years I have been working with successful female leaders for my project “Being Seen”.
Being Seen is a celebration for truly seeing who we are – beyond our job titles and day-to-day responsibilities.
The question I asked myself was:
Can we use psychology and photography to authentically capture who we truly are and to use this as a powerful anchor?
The Process
I worked with each person to:
- Capture stories of who the person was at their ‘best’ by asking them to speak with friends and family, and collect memories of when they were at their best.
- Represent those qualities visually through a fun, engaging photography shoot in those locations, which represented those qualities to the people.
The images, which I will be sharing over the next couple of weeks, represent the end point of this process.
Why Did I Do This?
I wanted to see if creative photography and storytelling can make a positive difference to our own self-perception.
These images contain four viewpoints:
- How each person sees themself
- How their friends, family and professional network see them
- How the camera sees them
- How I see them.
These perspectives offer the opportunity for reflecting – and at times, re-shaping how we view ourselves.
What could be More Relevant to Life and to Leadership?
As we began on the journey, I began to see how we can create a person in how we see them. We can think about this simply. When we view somebody positively or negatively we then unconsciously look for evidence to back up this view.
As I began to choose how I saw each person, opportunities (locations, events, poses), kept arising for them to show up or be seen in this way.
Often, I (or the camera) would sometimes pick up a personal quality they had not seen in themselves, and we started to amplify this more and more. Through this process we could continue to accentuate the positives.
In addition, the process in and of itself of being photographed – and truly seen – by others was significant.
Why I Chose these Ladies.
Each of these ladies has a presence, an openness to experiment and a curiosity to learn and to self-reflect. They are each leaders / influencers.
What did I get from the process?
As I was helping these people to be seen, I too was being seen. I was stepping into new areas of creativity, discovery and play.
I hope my sharing of this project also encourages you, the reader, to tap into and share more of the real you.
I would love to talk more if you are interested further – please email me (mark@cocreate-int.com) or comment below and we can discuss.
Links to all the women’s write-ups who have appeared thus far in the series:
