A project that I’ve been working on that is very important to me … THE BLOOM SERIES!
The first topic of Racism & Injustice featured six amazing, beautiful women and I have shared all of their stories below (the teal button at the bottom of this post). I’ll be sharing each topic in this same way, along with some of my own thoughts. I’m posting this a little late, as I’ve already moved on to my next topic (which is interracial relationships), but I still wanted to share this specific topic. I also thought it was the perfect opportunity for me to talk about WHY I’m doing this — I’ve had quite a few people ask me how I came up with it, the meaning behind it, etc., and I realized that I haven’t really explained the inspiration behind it in detail. The biggest thing that got me thinking was my purpose for photography — for a while, I was questioning the impact I was actually making as a photographer. Was I just doing it for the money? Was I doing it as a creative outlet? Was I making any sort of impact on the people I was photographing? I have such a passion for photography, but I wanted to do something more than what I was currently doing. I wanted to feel like I had a purpose and feel like my photography had meaning. I had been trying to think of something unique, something that’s relatable, something highlighting WOMEN (i’ll dig further into that later), and something that was meaningful - not just to me, but to those participating. I had probably mentioned 3-4 different ideas to my husband, my sister and a few other close family members/friends, but none of them stuck. They almost felt forced, just because of how badly I wanted to do something that made a positive impact. I prayed a lot about what direction I should go, I leaned into the message I wanted to get across, and I decided to utilize my talent and passion of photography. That’s when everything started to come together for me.
I say this a lot, but it’s something that needs to be said over and over and over — WOMEN ARE AMAZING. Women are powerful. Strong. Beautiful. Resilient. Talented. But as women, we sometimes forget these things. We sometimes don’t realize how valuable we are, how strong we are, how important we are and how beautiful we are — every single one of us. The purpose of the Bloom Series is to empower women and give them the platform to: 1) use their voices 2) highlight their beauty, unique stories and personalities 3) share their perspectives on different topics. In my opinion, as women, we compete with one another too often and we compare ourselves to other women WAY too much. Why is that?! Why is difficult for us to uplift one another? To show our support without having negative or jealous feelings that come with it? Why do we compare our stories and lives to other women’s stories? Why are we so quick to judge other women? We all know how freaking unbelievable women are, how much women do, how hard women work, how many insecurities we all face, and how hard we are on ourselves. Which is why it’s so difficult to understand why we don’t root for each other and lift each other up SO much more than we do. My hope is that the Bloom Series will allow women to share their stories, share their wisdom and perspective, and also give women an opportunity to hear from other amazing women. My hope is that this series will provide women with the support, encouragement and confidence that we all deserve to have. All of our stories are different and we all see life through a different lens — which is the beautiful thing about it. I think we can learn so much from one another and I’m so excited that I get to continue highlighting and empowering women through this series.
The title of the series was inspired by the word bloom itself. And if you’ve been following along with me and my blog for a while, you may know the word blooming is part of that title as well (which is where my inspiration started), so I felt like it fit perfectly.
bloom:
1. a state of beauty
2. a time of development
3. to flourish, thrive or mature
Here’s a small part from my first blog post, where I was explaining why I chose to write a blog and title it the way I did — the inspiration I wrote about back then isn’t much different than how I currently feel, I just found another way to express that, while also bringing other women into it.
“ Blooming - ‘thriving; growing; flourishing’
All of our stories- maybe just certain chapters in our story- have included some sort of difficulty, or pain, or adversity. And in every one of those challenging situations we face, in every chapter of our story that may seem exhausting or uncomfortable - we are blooming in ways that we could have never imagined for ourselves. With every one of those situations, we are planting seeds and preparing ourselves for growth, even when it may feel like we are stuck or uncertain of what is to come. We all want to see growth or the end result so quickly (I’m very guilty of this), but planting the seeds and watering them is part of the process; it is part of blooming. It may happen slowly or imperfectly, but you are blooming. ”
This project means so much to me and I hope you all enjoy it — I would also appreciate it so much if you took the time to read through each woman’s story below (if you haven’t already through my instagram). They all have a great amount of wisdom and I feel so honored that they took their time to share their perspective and feelings with us on such a vulnerable, important and relevant topic. If anyone has any topic ideas, thoughts or comments, I would love it if you shared that below! ALSO, if you’d be interested in participating in the Bloom Series, please reach out — I would be so honored to have you be a part of it.
Sending everyone so much love!
- Ciarra
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