Rick Guidotti from Positive Exposure was in town!

Guess who was in town?! My dear friend Rick Guidotti, founder and photographer at Positive Exposure. He was in Australia for the Skin to Live In - skin impressions project.

Rick humanises medical conditions. He photographs people with differences - giving viewers the chance to see sheer beauty. And his photography enables his subjects to see beauty in themselves.
I saw an illness support group that featured a photo of the symptoms of the condition - my first thought is that this is dehumanising. If we remove peoples' faces and only focus on the medical aspects of illness and disability, how can we build confidence in these people?

This is why we need initiatives like Rick Guidotti's.

I last saw Rick at his studio in New York City. Rick and I came to know each other at The Other Film Festival in 2012 - we met on a photo shoot for The Age and then hung out all week. When he told me he was in my city this week, I was SO excited!

He has an amazing ability to make everyone he meets feel great about themselves, and this translates to physical beauty in photographs.

Rick attended the FIRST Conference in June and last night he showed me the photos he took there - just gorgeous.

I was so happy Adam finally met Rick! He took about 600 photos of us for our engagement. I'm in my favourite person sandwich.

Such a fun night! I love being able to meet such amazing people who really believe in what they do - Rick is my appearance activism hero.

Check out Positive Exposure's PEARLS Project and follow the organisation on Facebook.