self esteem | Winifred's Portrait & Fine Art Gallery

REGINA

The name Regina means “QUEEN” but no one ever made her feel like a queen. “It’s not easy to grow up feeling that you are beautiful and desirable when you’ve not been told so, and when you are a large lady like myself”, said my client Regina. But she added that by watching the Tyra Bank’s Show and America’s Next Top Model she had been helped quite a bit. She explained that these shows had helped her to love herself just as she is because some things you cannot change. Tyra had also helped her to know what I meant when I ask her to smile with her “eyes” Tyra calls it “smeyes”. We laughed about that.

Regina’s sister Alice ( portrait above) is one of the most beloved portraits in my gallery.

Regina had been looking at Alice’s portrait for a few years now. It has won awards and been seen in many publications, most recently, Rangefinder. Alice decided to give Regina a portrait collection when she came to town for a visit. Alice knows the power and value to a woman’s esteem of seeing herself as beautiful inside and out and it would be a gift which would last Regina forever. Regina and I had quite a fun time during the session. There was lots to laugh about even the fact that I talk to myself almost continuously while I am working. I always pay a great deal of attention to my client during her session, however, I am watching every move she makes. I have to say that my greatest compliment came before Regina left my gallery, before she even saw an image. She said, “No matter what the images look like, because maybe I am funny looking, so it wouldn’t be your fault, I just felt so special today. It doesn’t matter what the images look like – I felt like America’s Next Top Model”. It brings tears and great emotion to just think of these words – to be able to give this gift of well being to another.

You can probably imagine how Regina felt when she saw her finished images. I always feel confident that I can best choose for my clients – though they are not obligated when I do this. I selected my favorite three and had them completely finished before she saw anything. These would be purchased as 8×10 portraits not wall portrait paintings.

Regina’s sisters loved them all, but above is Regina’s and her sister’s very favorite image.

I knew that including smiles among the portraits would be appreciated – her sisters love her pretty smile. This is not particularly my style but I certainly found these images very pretty. Regina was very quite when she saw her portraits, her sisters, to the contrary, were audibly very excited. Regina said, as most clients do, “Is that me – the photos look so pretty?” “I am just a normal looking person and I am so glad you know how to make us look beautiful.”

“I am just a normal looking person” Regina said.

In all of my marketing material, I say to my prospective clients, “No matter your weight, your size or your age, your portrait will be beautiful”. I take this very seriously and there was certainly no exception here. If you would like a beautiful and timeless portrait, please contact me at 360.779.1375 for a complimentary consultation.

Related Images:

Hello World!

This is me more than 99 percent of the time. I am positive energetic, creative and believe the sky is the limit.

This does not mean that everything goes my way or that I do not have challenges – but rarely does it get me down and for not very long. I pay attention to my thinking and try to stay away from negative thinking, limited thinking and judgment. These type of thoughts get us in trouble. When one thing is out of my control, I direct my attention to things I can control and attempt to have positive impact there. When the economy slowed and I had less business, I used it as a time to create my book. Hence I remained focused, optimistic and fully engaged with an activity that was important to me.

I also engage consciously in positive self talk – you know, that little voice we hear all day long giving us feedback. That voice can be trained. It can be trained to tell you things you need to hear to move forward. It can be trained to offset the negative voices which may be part of your past – which may be holding you back – really it can. It is amazing how much I like to hear myself praise myself for doing really good work. I can feel a what feels like a separate being within me just “glow”. I like to feel that I am in charge of how I feel and how my life goes. If something is not working no matter how hard you work at it – well, it just may be that you need to let it go and to move in a new direction. Sometimes we just need patience.

This image was taken by Pete Snell from Victoria when group of us were in Vegas for WPPI and went to the desert to a ghost town to do a shoot. The environment was so beautiful and I had my fabric with me to use for the models so I complied when the guys told me they wanted to photograph me. This is a fun image so I am glad I allowed it to be created.