A Year of Showing Up, Softly

Rachel joined me for my final Styled Portrait Session with Madeleine Park, where we created confidence.

As December rolls to a close, I’m realising that 2025 wasn’t about becoming louder, slicker, or more polished.
It was about becoming truer.

This year, I was asked me — again and again — to slow down, listen, and trust what I already know.
Not just as a photographer of over 20 years, but as a woman, a mother, a business owner, and someone who understands what it feels like to want to hide and be seen at the same time.

When I look back through my journal entries from this year, a few things stand out clearly.

The work that resonated most wasn’t about “looking good”

The most-read, most-saved, most-shared posts on my website weren’t the ones promising transformation or perfection.

They were the ones who said:

• You are not your photo.

• Confidence isn’t something you have — it’s something you create

• You don’t need to change your face, your body, or your age to show up.

Posts about:

• Why women hate seeing photos of themselves

• Why full-body photos feel confronting

• Why phones distort our faces

• Why stiff posing makes everything worse

• Why movement, breath, and softness matter

Those pieces landed because they normalised the experience so many people have but rarely talk about.

The common thread: people don’t hate photos — they hate how they’ve been made to feel.

Over and over again, the same message came through:

People don’t dislike being photographed because they’re vain or insecure.
They dislike it because they’ve been:

• Rushed

• Judged

• Left unguided

• Told to “just relax”

• Shown unflattering images with no context

• Made to feel like the problem

The common theme across emails, DMs, sessions, and comments this year was this:

“I want to show up — I just don’t want to feel awkward, exposed, or like I’m doing it wrong.”

And that’s where my work keeps gently returning.

Confidence on camera is created, not discovered.

One of the most significant shifts I’ve seen this year — both in my clients and in myself — is understanding that confidence isn’t a personality trait.

It’s a process.

Confidence is created when:

• You’re guided instead of judged.

• You’re allowed to move instead of freeze.

• You’re permitted to take up space.

• You understand angles, light, and posture.

• You feel safe enough to soften.

This year reinforced something I’ve always believed but now say out loud more often:

You don’t need to be “photogenic.”
You need support.

My own growth mirrored my clients.

As I journal through 2025, I can see how much my own confidence expanded alongside the people I photographed.
Sharing my own awkwardness.
Talking honestly about ageing, self-doubt, and visibility.
Letting my work be personal again.

Every time I showed up imperfectly, someone else felt permission to do the same.

Closing the year.

As this year wraps, I feel less interested in proving anything — and more committed to creating experiences where people feel seen, held, and quietly empowered.

If there’s one lesson 2025 leaves me with, it’s this:

Confidence doesn’t come from fixing yourself.
It comes from understanding yourself — and being met with kindness along the way.

And that’s the work I’ll keep doing.

Love Katie x