Laura Webb Photography: Blog
Mt. Zion, Illinois | Modern Portrait Photographer
“Anyone can give up; It’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone would expect you to fall apart, that’s true strength.” – Chris Bradford
There are two significant life-altering events that have happened in my twenty-five years of living that I credit for making me who I am. It is because of those situations that I have been able to learn how to become a warrior, to stand up for what I believe in, and to be proud of my past.
I am a sexual assault survivor.
So this may seem a little out of place, but I promise, it fits right in.
Back in January of 2017, I stumbled upon an app via a photographer that I follow on Instagram. She had been using it for the past year to document her family's life, and at the end of the year, she had an awesome video full of memories with her family.
Now if you know me, I am all about documenting life in photographs. It is literally what I do.
I was curious, so on January 2nd, I downloaded the app 1 Second Everyday and got started. Over the last year, we drank a lot of coffee, traveled to Florida, Chicago, St. Louis, Palm Springs, and Paris; we've celebrated birthdays and holidays, we've dealt with our dog, Charlie, developing congestive heart failure and seizures, and we've enjoyed our normal day to day lives. But it so easy to forget all of the ins and outs of a year, which is why my husband have fallen in love with this app.
For months, I've been trying to come up with the perfect idea for a photo essay. The basics were there, but I still hadn't found the perfect inspiration. I've gone through multiple iterations in my head, but nothing seemed to be the right fit for what I wanted to achieve. As I was driving home after working at the studio one day, I finally had my light bulb moment. It was my 30th birthday, and as most of us tend to do on those big decade-changing birthdays, I was reflecting on what I had accomplished, what I still want to achieve, and the experiences and people that had brought me to this point. And though it hasn't been a smooth journey, I've finally come to a point when I feel like I'm starting to understand and accept who I am.
And in that moment, I realized that that premise was exactly what I wanted my project to encompass.
"The Face of the Story" is a black and white photo essay that will focus on not only creating a compelling portrait of an individual but also telling their story.
Each portrait will be accompanied by a narrative written by that person that describes a life-changing, life-altering, or other impactful events in their life.
So many of us have stories to tell, but we tend to keep them to ourselves and hide in the shadows, convinced that no one wants to hear our stories. But as evidenced by the #metoo movement, there are often people that surround you who have experiences that have been untold.
This is where you come in. Rather than keep these experiences under wraps, I want to bring them to the light. I want to help open up discussions that need to be had. I want others to read these stories and realize that other people have the same struggles, the same challenges, the same profound experiences. But I also want to help others who haven't gone through these experiences to be able to gain a better understanding of others. We all have had moments where our preconceived notions have been challenged, those moments of understanding that shift our perspectives or challenge our way of thinking.
I want to help tell stories of overcoming adversity, stories of strength, hope, transformation, acceptance, joy, sorrow, and everything else that makes us as the human race absolutely incredible. No story is too small to be told.
If you have a story to tell, I want to photograph you.
Shooting for the project will resume soon! To be get updates, sign up here!
Ready to share your story? Get involved here!
Today I turned 30.
I had been dreading the big number change for several months now. Thinking of all of the things that I wished I had accomplished, all of those life goals that didn't quite come to fruition-I wasn't ready to suddenly feel like a "real" adult. But you know what. There isn't some magic timer that ran out at midnight. There isn't some hidden rule that says that all goals must be achieved by age 30. And yet, somewhere in the back of my mind, that rule was written in stone and the timer had been set. But today still came and nothing changed. There isn't a prize for checking off all of your hopes by a certain date.
I was trying to figure out what to post today, and I realized it should be a portrait of myself. I'm always talking about the importance of existing in photographs and being seen, but I need to practice what I preach, too. And let's be honest, that's not always easy. So as I started digging through files on my computer, trying to find one that I had maybe overlooked in the past, I realized that I saw myself differently now. The last time I went through those images, I only saw a couple that were "good enough" to post. This time was different. I started seeing the little quirks that I have, but rather than dismiss them as flaws and quickly moving on to the next one, I had an appreciation that didn't exist before.
This photograph is technically imperfect.
But it's real. It's my weird laugh, and my nose crinkles, and my eyes squeezed shut from giggling. And it's me.
For months, I've been wanting to start a personal project, but I just couldn't figure out what I wanted it to be. As I was driving away from the studio this afternoon, it finally came to me. Title, purpose, the works. Now that I've found it, it's this driving force, something that is dying to come to life. And I can't wait to get started.
“I exist as I am, that is enough,
If no other in the world be aware I sit content,
And if each and all be aware I sit content.
One world is aware, and by the far the largest to me, and that is myself,
And whether I come to my own today or in ten thousand or ten million years,
I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness, I can wait.”
-Walt Whitman
