I've never been so nervous for a shoot before. I didn't want to let her down. What if I wasn't creative enough? What if the lighting was bad? What if we didn't connect? What if I couldn't convey to others what I see for myself every day? What if I couldn't make them understand that, to me, Leigh Sterrett is so much more than muscular...she's strength. There is beauty in her dedication, her discipline, her stoic demeanor. If you take the time to see it, behind her quiet eyes...you'll know too.
Beauty is all around us. If you don't see it, you're not looking...not paying attention...not living with your eyes open. Beauty is a sunrise, ocean waves, a midday rainbow. Beauty is a child's sly grin, the sparkle of an eye, a loving touch. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is skin deep. Sometimes beauty is captured...in a jar, in a vase, through a lens. Beauty is all consuming, overwhelming, awe inspiring.
Beauty is fragile; beauty is pure; beauty is strong.
I asked her to let her guard down, to let me in...not an easy task when you're hanging off of railroad tracks in a sports bra. I snapped pictures while she stood, crunched, sat perfectly still, held poses, climbed a rope, walked along a brick wall and ran sprints. She smiled, didn't smile, glanced, turned her head, laughed, looked down, looked up, looked away. At the end of the shoot she had changed clothes five times, put her hair up, and down and then up again...she was covered in tar, covered in lipstick, covered in a fine layer of sweat and dust.
She was still beautiful. I know, because I was there. I was looking. I did see it. I was paying attention. I was lucky to capture it.
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