Our studio motto at Margo Millure Photography is, “You are already beautiful. You are already enough. You are a work of art.” Something about now being well into the second half of 2020, the year of a global pandemic and overall really challenging year, I’ve decided it’s time for me to come clean. The reason I started the You are A Work of Art project way back at the end of 2019 was to celebrate the strength, beauty and wisdom of women through photography and their stories.  But as in all of what drives me to do what I do, including relaunching it this week, there’s a bit more to it than that.  Here are just a few images from the project thus far:   I’ve always said that for almost all women, being photographed is an act of bravery. To use a couple of photography metaphors (that are used so often they aren’t really metaphors), to be photographed, we have to allow ourselves to be focused on. We have to risk exposure.

I see you there

Over the years, I myself, have cleverly tried to outsmart the steely truths of the camera lens. I have stayed stubbornly behind it, where my profession has kept me safe. I’ve left rooms because of it. I’ve fake smiled and hidden behind people for it. We always think we are alone in our pathos. Yet rarely is that true.  

We are each beautifully unique and uniquely beautiful (but we also have “stuff” in common)

People who come to me to be photographed are a diverse lot. Each person truly has their own  beauty; the result of age, shape, and experiences; of their different opinions on everything from the politics to nail polish. Yet to various degrees and in different ways, each has been shaped by ever evolving, media driven, ideals of how we as women are “supposed” to be.  So while the You are A Work of Art Project may be about telling individual stories through photography, it is also about debunking some of that and instead seeing what we have in common. In this time of extreme division, I want to pull everything back to an important truth: that we, as women, are far more alike than we can imagine. Crazy?  Perhaps! The thing is, I know that what I do for women through the entire experience of photographing them is more than simply giving the idea of “real beauty” lip service. 

Once and for all, just say “no”

The You are A Work of Art project is a logical extension of what I do.  Putting the spotlight (yep  – another photography metaphor) on a group of beautiful, unique and brave women is my small way of changing societal and cultural ideas about what real beauty is. It’s my way, one step at a time, to help us internally get better at saying “no” to all the daily dose of bunk we’ve been fed over the years about how we’re supposed to look and be… … a path to risk being seen by the photographer as the beauty we already are. If anything the past four months have taught me that there is no time like the present 😉 . And that includes getting past our closest held and most persistent bugaboos.  I am looking forward to photographing this group of women – to helping them get just a little more over themselves, to the other side of whatever might be stopping them from moving to the next beautiful thing that life has in store for them. Together, let’s do this! We’ll have a blast and maybe, it will even change the way you see yourself. The price is $199 to secure a spot in #YouAreAWorkOfArt project, and includes day-of hair and makeup styling, the session, and personalized reveal where I will gift you a copy of your favorite image. ($645 value). I’m regrouping and have lots more planned, details of which are a work in progress! (BTW, we’re that too.) To learn more and apply: You are A Work of Art Project To learn about the Signature Session