Practice What I Preach – Megan Noll Photography

“One day, all your children will have is pictures of you. Make sure you are in them – no matter what your hair, your makeup or your body looks like. They won’t care about any of that. They’ll just want to see you”

I have to admit something. I feel like I haven’t been honest with you all.

Another photographer was looking at my instagram feed and said, “Where are YOU?! I would have no idea what you look like if I was just looking at your feed”

That’s no mistake. It’s been very intentional. You see, for someone who harps on how important getting in front of the camera is, I’ve been consciously been avoiding it.

This year hasn’t been an easy one for me. I broke my leg severely when I was 7 weeks pregnant. No surgeon would fix it because of the risk to the baby, so I was in A LOT of pain my whole pregnancy. By the time the leg was healing, I was a giant pregnant lady, so I really didn’t move for 9 months.

For someone who has always been active, this took its own toll. Brian and I have always been athletic together: running, doing workout video’s, and playing sports. All of that came to an abrupt stop, along with my metabolism.

I don’t know if you knew this, but apparently not moving makes you gain weight…and so does pregnancy. That combination of both has put me in a place of dreading the mirror, the camera, and clothes.

When I take a picture, I expect to see the pre-pregnancy me, sans 40 pounds. When I see the picture, I am reminded abruptly that is not how I look anymore, and am filled with disappointment. How did I let myself get here? Why hasn’t the weight fallen off the way I thought it would? Will people still want to hire me?

I only tell you this because I think there is a power in sharing your struggle. When I wrote about my experience with anxiety, I had so many people reach out to me that told me they have also dealt with it. This world can be lonely, and if my struggle lets someone else know they are not alone, then I’ll gladly share.

As someone who preaches about how important it is to being in photos, regardless of how you think you look, it’s time I took a lesson from myself and practice what I preach.

It’s time to practice what I preach

So here it is, my pledge and my challenge. I am pledging to practice what I preach. I am going to get in front of the camera more, and not feel embarrassed. I am going to post more pictures with me in them, and try not to worry about an imperfection I see. I challenge you to do the same.

The picture in this article is not about me feeling pretty. I have no make up on. I have greasy beach hair, and I am self conscious about rolls and dimples in my thigh. But this picture is significant to me, because it was here that I wrote this blog and decided I didn’t want to be perfect. I want to be present.