Alyssa

Can I be honest for a moment? This year has already been a year of growth, both for the good and for the hard. When this year started I made a commitment to myself to push myself in mastering film. And I've had plenty of times where I have failed, but each time I don't get the results I want I am pushed to take something positive away from the experience. I like it that way, you know, looking at it from a growth perspective rather than admit that time as failure. I have enough perceived failure in my life, I don't need to pile that on anymore. What is strange is that we don't open view failure itself as success. We chalk it up to us not measuring up to some standard that someone else has set up. But to me, failure means that I TRIED. That I didn't take myself out of the ring because of fear. And every time I step out in something that scares me I don't let that fear win. And by staring that fear of failure in the face it may just help encourage someone else to do the same.

So this year I am taking risks, and setting the bar higher, not just for myself, but for my family and for the community around me.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. - Marianne Williamson

Hair & Make up: Brianna PinkhamModel: Alyssa CallierLocations: Point Defiance & Jungle Fever, Tacoma**Fuji400h, pentax 645, images scanned and developed by the FIND lab**