I struggled with this photo a lot. Bahar didn’t like “the right side of her faceâ€, so when I came home I started Photoshopping the photo, you know, removing bores, scars, and wrinkles, etc. I did this because as a human I am influenced by worldly standards, we are led to believe that we have to be: thin, muscular, tall, clear skin, shinny hair, golden curls, big and bright eyes, long eyelashes, small and straight noses, full lips, etc. But that’s not God’s standards. The Bible says that we are created in God’s image, maybe not physically, but we should accept the way God created us and be grateful for His wonderful handiwork– not be grumbling and ungrateful.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.†Genesis 1:27
Also, our Lord does not judge man according to how we judges. We evaluate people according to their physical appearances—things they rarely have control over. God, however, judges man according to his/her own actions, in this respect we all start life equally.
“But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’†1 Samuel 16:7
Beside, one day I will get married and have children, if it’s God’s will, and I do not want to imply to my wife and daughters, directly or indirectly, that they have to look a certain way to feel and know they are beautiful. My wife will be just a human being, like me, and one day she will get old and so I am determined to love her and cherish her regardless of her physical “imperfectionsâ€. I know I will find my family beautiful regardless of the world’s standards, and so let’s treat others, strangers, as we would treat our family.
Anticipation by Fadi
I took me two weeks to replace the edited photo with this original photo. The photo you see now has only its colors altered to convey the mood I wanted, but there has been no retouching whatsoever (not even cropping). I think Bahar is beautiful, and I think this original photo looks much better than the edited version, because in this photo Bahar looks like a lady–a person with emotions, fears, dreams, and beautiful “imperfections‖and not like some plastic mannequin. I pray that I will have the courage to stand for what’s right in my photography and not conform to the superficial standards we are bombarded with every day everywhere.
Special thanks to my classmate Bahar for her willingness to participate in this capture, her patience, and complying with my photography requests!
One thought on “Learning to be Grateful for Gods Handiwork”
Great article and I agree with you only one thing to add, GOD made us perfect in the beginning what we see now is the result of the fall of Adam.
I don’t always think its one way or the other. I am an ex-professional photographer some times things can be improved on for lots of unselfish reasons.
The Spirit of your point is right on and I really liked the article and appreciate it.