When local photographer Heather Douglas embarked on a new project, she hoped to counter that influence on her young subjects but had no idea how successful she\u2019d be.<\/p>\n
On a beautiful, warm, January day, Douglas decided to take her nine-year-old daughter Tilly outside for a photo shoot to test a style she\u2019d been thinking about for some time.<\/p>\n
She was stunned by the result. \u201cWhen I downloaded them, I thought, \u2018these are amazing.\u2019 And when I asked my daughter, she said it made her feel really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a sentiment echoed by the other tween girls Douglas has photographed. \u201cThe girls love it, they feel good and we have fun with it. We might do a little bit of mascara and lip gloss, but only if they want it, and the rest is lighting and clothing \u2013 I make it something different and special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleven-year-old Rowan Petterson was a bit nervous about her photo shoot, mostly about what the pictures might look like. \u201cI was feeling nervous that some of the things wouldn\u2019t match my hair and eyes,\u201d she said. \u201cBut they were really nice and she touched them up to make them brighter. I didn\u2019t know she could do that much stuff with the computer.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Rowan took the photos to school, she said her teacher thought she might be a model. \u201cI can\u2019t wait for maybe a different time when I can do it again, maybe when I\u2019m older.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Rowan](\"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2016\/03\/HPP_4359.jpg\")
Rowan Petterson<\/p><\/div>\n
Rowan\u2019s mom, Michelle, has noticed an uplift in Rowan\u2019s confidence since the photo shoot. \u201cShe is the sweetest, kindest child, and she always works hard to make other people happy, but she compares herself to her younger sister all the time. That day I saw a glimmer of a kid I hadn\u2019t seen before. She just had this different presence and this smile \u2013 it gave her this confidence and this boost of self-esteem that she carried around with her even after she took off the pretty clothes. She felt amazing and it was fun for her to have all the attention just on her. And afterward she was fascinated by what (Heather) could do with Photoshop.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the result Douglas was hoping for. \u201cGirls see images in magazines and this helps to take the mystery out of it. Everyone that I\u2019ve photographed have been normal, local little girls. When you take a bit of effort and make it a bit different, it becomes something magical and it shows them that they might not look like that every day but they can if they want to. And that the people in the magazine might look a certain way but they don\u2019t look like that every day either. So now they don\u2019t think, \u2018I\u2019m never going to look like that, that person\u2019s perfect.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Douglas also has plans for a similar style for boys. \u201cIt\u2019s more about bringing their personality into it than putting on the pretty clothes. But they have the same (media) influences, although they don\u2019t seem to react to it in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the things Douglas loves about these shoots is that it captures tweens just before they begin to look more like adults, and hopefully before they start to become too self-conscious about their appearance.<\/p>\n\n\t\t