Lara Zeini

Hello, I’m Lara. I’m a photographer living in Toronto, Canada.

As an image maker, I believe our category has a big responsibility setting the trends and standards of what people see on their social media, magazines, adds and so on. Therefore, we have a great power in hands to promote body positiviness and a more naturalized and empowering view of beauty.

This campaign encourages designers, photographers and retouchers to bring more reality into their works, by using different kinds of beauties and less Photoshop as a tool to manipulate and idealize bodies that can't be achieved by the consumers of these images.

Did you know that the images we are exposed to have a direct impact on our behaviour and mental health? Here are some examples:

- A study exposed undergraduate women to 40 photographs from Cosmopolitan, Vogue, and Glamour magazines. Young women exposed to images of idealized models indicated more eating-disorder symptoms than women in the control group, as well as more negative mood states and lower self-esteem. [Zurbriggen and Morgan, 2006]

- When posting a self image, the engagement to edit, craft it using filters and other resources before projecting it online is pointed out as a reflection of the internalization of beauty standards spread by mass media, and the consequent feeling of appearance surveillance, inferiority and shame. [Lyu, 2016]

By clicking to Back my Campaign, you`ll be directed to the "Retouchers Accord" instagram, where they raise awareness about this topic and suggest an oath to all image makers, to start a change towards healthier practices in the industry.

I invite you to post TODAY a piece of your work that represents your respect for the real beauty, where photoshop was used only to enhance the image (in terms of color corrections, contrast, exposure) and not to idealize someone.

Here are a few suggestions if you would like to learn more about this topic

- Like the www.facebook.com/aboutfacesf page, an organization that encourages women to look at the way bodies are shown in media. They have resources on body image, self-esteem, media literacy, and more.

- Read this enterview with an instructor from The Art Institutes International talking about photoshop ethics.

- Watch this video, of a 17 years old talking about body image in the Photoshop era.