reDEFINE

define re

katie as you’ve

who is talking

+

who is listening

never seen her

fresh

faces feelings thoughts

Britney Stevens

[re]view

hello!

I’m so excited that spring is here and summer is just around the corner! It feels like winter lasted forever this year, and I am so ready to bust out the sandals and sundresses.

This month is sure to be a busy one. I graduate from Kansas State University with my Bachelor of Fine Art in the middle of it, and the day is bracketed by a fury of things to do. My thesis exhibition for printmaking is before, as is getting through my last round of finals in undergrad. After, it’s running off to North Carolina for a few weeks to take a class on stone lithography. Barely time to catch my breath, it seems.

May just seems to be a perfect time for new beginnings.

Even though January is the technical start to the year, I don’t feel inspired to recreate myself until the end of April, where my birthday is (marking my “new year”). And by May, the weather is warming up and I start feeling so good in my skin, which leads me to feeling beautiful, which makes me feel fulfilled and powerful. So I’m reclaiming today as the beginning of my year. It all starts with a little sunshine and a great pair of heels!

xo

Happy New Year (in May) and enjoy this month’s view…

Heather Hnizdil

[re]define

Who says?

Who says what beautiful is?

Is it the editor of your favorite fashion magazine?

Is it your mother? Is it your best friend? Who has the right to put an all-or-nothing, fit-in-or-die set of restrictions on what beautiful is? My answer: everyone and no one.

If we hold certain truths to be unquestionable—like the idea that all people are created equally—we entitle everyone to have equal say in the matter. Whoever you are, your opinion is valid. You get to determine what is beautiful and how rigidly you are going to hold yourself to your own ideals.

But you shouldn’t be holding yourself to another’s idea of what beautiful is. Who are they to have the last word on beauty? How do you break out of someone else’s beauty box? By questioning everything.

Is this beautiful? Do I think that is beautiful? Begin to disentangle yourself from what you think you know and begin looking at everything through fresh eyes. Be it a hair color, clothing size, shoe style, facial expression, brow line, or poise, you can and should redefine beautiful for yourself.

bella vista

[re]visit

Beauty is all around us. It’s in the soft spring breeze coming through my windows, the chirping of the birds in their excitement for the season, the way the sunlight catches the moisture in the air and makes a haze over the fields. It’s everywhere.

Having an artist’s eye makes you look at the world differently. You no longer look to see what’s there, you look to find angles and light that compliment each subject. You find colors and details you may have missed before. And you really see.

That’s the difference. Ordinary people look around them. The look at buildings and flowers and people. They look at food and maps and landscapes. But they don’t see. They don’t see how the shadow of the buttresses on the Notre Dame make patterns on the outer walls.

They don’t see how the dense fog gives them the chance to sing a solo. They don’t see the golden morning light bouncing off the cobblestone road, illuminating the street from beneath. They don’t see the wrinkles that form around their friend’s eyes when she laughs.

But you, my friend, are not ordinary. You are exquisite and adept. You notice the little things, the beauty in life. And if you don’t, now is a great time to begin.

So don’t just look, see. Discover the difference.

katie “I think people see you as your most beautiful self,” I’d said, driving to the spot I had picked out for Katie’s photos.

She agreed with me, then asked me to explain.

And I did. I told her how I feel like we are brutal to ourselves on a daily basis. I am, anyway. I look in the mirror and have to mentally fight back the voice that says I look worse than I did they day I painted the house, with green drips on my face and less than flattering clothes on my body.

But that’s not how I see others. When I see you, I see you always as the most beautiful I’ve ever seen you. I see you confident in that dress you know you look good in. I see you with every hair perfectly in place. Even when you aren’t looking your best (according to you), I see you as if you are.

The more I know, the more I find that this is true for most people. We are kind to others; less judgmental. We see their beauty much more quickly than we see our own.

I had the privilege of capturing Katie in a fine, fine moment.

She is breathtaking, immortalized in her white dress.

And you are, too. Sometimes, it just takes a little undeniable proof, like a photograph, for you to see it, too.

heatherhnizdil.com