Tobi Shinobi talks Body Image!

Tobi Shinobi knows about photos (he’s a professional photographer and Instagrammer, so…) and because he spends a lot of time taking photos of people, he sees their reactions to photos and then how the online reactions affect their confidence – often negatively. Photos are everywhere, all the time, and we’re drowning in content from models and influencers who create a pressure – even if they don’t mean to – to look and be a certain way. It’s like HOW can people be so perfect all the time?? Then if we don’t match up to these expectations (which, let’s be serious, are IMPOSSIBLE) with every picture we post, our issues with body image grow and grow because it’s easy to think “I hate my body” or to hate your legs, face, bum, belly, thighs, body shape, whatever. It shouldn’t matter, but it does, and it stresses us out.

So Tobi decided to spend a day taking completely natural pictures of five people and – cheese alert! – letting their natural inner beauty shine through. Seriously though! It actually makes a difference, because beauty really does come from individuality: you can tell from the reaction of the group after the session. They all have different worries about how they look but after being totally honest and open with each other they began to listen to how the others saw them. You see your own face every day so of course you zone in on the bits you hate rather than the bits other people love.

Try this – next time you take a selfie don’t take it seriously because it really doesn’t matter how many likes you get. Just take it, post it and move on! If you feel good, you look good, and we all deserve to feel good because we’re all amazing inside.