There is great debate about social media today making people feel inadequate about themselves or their life. They see their friends having a great time on vacation or their friend’s children making straight A’s or getting an award for their soccer team winning the championship. People today are just doing what photographers have been doing for years.

As photographers, we only put out the good stuff for someone else to view.  We don’t print or post those blurry, dark photos of our kids pitching a tantrum while they eat cake. We post the ones that show that happy grin with the birthday candles glowing and all the family and friends surrounding them.  All of us take some awful photos from time to time, just like all of us have bad days. We just choose to leave those pictures on the hard drive or throw them away.  Even the best photographers make mistakes!

This is a very old picture, and although I have processed it again recently in Lightroom, it is still one of my favorites of my husband.  I have pictures with him all dressed up and posed, but I just love the smile of his face in this picture. It is a genuine smile, which does not happen very often when I try to take a picture of him. He hates the camera!

While I could debate the merits of whether or not to use photoshop to alter pictures, I try to stay as real as I can with it when it comes to editing people. If you change the color of a flower in a picture, no one might ever know that, but extreme editing of people often makes them look fake.

Why I am I talking about keeping it real? Today is my 16th Wedding Anniversary. I couldn’t think of a better way to describe my marriage than “real.”It has not been 16 years of perfection & wedded bliss. It has been 16 years of joy & sorrow, laughter & tears, arguments & complete understanding, question & support, friendship & love. I wouldn’t change one minute of the last 16 years with my best friend. I know I can be real with him. Happy Anniversary to my whole world & the love of my life. I have loved the past, but I can’t wait for the future.