#beautyinstrangers

[gretakatharinaa]

the beauty in others - about philocalists 

philocalist (n.) a lover of beauty. One who appreciates beautiful people, places, objects, etc.

As i sat on the train on a rainy september afternoon, i felt nothing less but joy.

I saw playful clouds outside the window gently hugged by the passing sunset. The rain has slowly passed and the raincoats on the train been tossed under the seats.

There was a girl, about seven, sitting on her dads lap playing a coloring game on her tablet. Her dreamy brown eyes looked at me and then wandered back on the screen. Dad was stroking her messy hair and looked out the window. They looked so peaceful together, all up in their own world. 

I kept looking around and saw a man in his mid-twenties with headphones in. At times, he smiled so i figured he was listening to a podcast of some sort, enjoying the entertainment.

Behind him, two school girls with matching outfits and a, what seemed to be never ending, discussion about some boy they know.

The elderly lady next to them kept rolling her eyes in annoyance of the noise the girls were making and i could see her funky blue eyeliner . I‘m sure she was a lot like those girls back in her day. 

I began to smile. 

Recently, I’ve developed a habit of seeing the beauty in strangers, seeing their uniqueness in their hair, their clothes and their face. 

It’s funny how you can tell a lot (and yet nothing) by someone’s appearance.

“Philo“ derives from the greek word “philos“ meaning “loving“ or “fond of“ and “calist“ might be related to “kallistes“ meaning beautiful.

While it is a rather rare of use term, its definition is commonly understood.

Have you ever done that? Looked around and seen beauty? 

It is easy to see beauty in a garden full of roses, a sunset above the city skyline or a symmetrical face with a nice smile.

If you look deeper though, beauty is everywhere. 

“Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder“ everybody has heard that before.

You and me, we may not find the same things, the same people beautiful. You may not find me beautiful (and on many days, I would agree).

But as I’ve learned over the years, - and yes I am talking like an old lady here, gets me to come across wiser - once you start looking for beauty in the most unexpected of places, you will find it within yourself. You will start to like that mole on your neck or the way your eyebrows are uneven.

Beauty is weird, it is subjective and it is cultural.

Some places have tanning beds for people to never have fair skin and other places sell bleach and sunscreen to keep your skin as light as possible.

In some chapters of your life you may try and starve yourself to be skinnier only to look at photos five years later and regret all the good food you’ve missed out on. You may overeat and live at the gym only to look back thinking your physique was great.

Whenever I ask older generations that their biggest regret is, I get similar answers:

I wish I would have accepted my body 

I wish I would have told that person how I felt

I wish I would have stopped worrying.

And I’m not really looking forward to feeling this type of way and neither should you.

There will be days where i wont tell that person how i feel and days where i will definitely worry about anything and everything. There will be days where i will worry about my body or the way my eyebrows have a life of their own.

Now, where are my chips?

[teacupphilosophy]

#Repost @frvnk ・・・ ◾️Sarah. . @sarah.elizabeth.mitchell @emg_models @frvnk @beauty.in.strangers . I am lucky to have Sarah as a part of the reboot series of my long-abandoned creative visuals (@beauty.in.strangers). @emg_models, you are blessed to have such a talent like her, a walking oil paint portrait. . It has been well over a year since I shot anyone seriously, and this is also my first attempt at fitgeting with Lightroom (been a stubborn Photoshop editor for a while). It is interesting to see how much my style has evolved from a year ago, and I am intrigued by where I will take it to in another year. #beautyinstrangers (at Arts District Los Angeles)

[chriscraftingus]

I daresay it's the strangeness that makes something/someone truly beautiful! 🖤 #strangeisbeautiful #poe #edgarallanpoe #darkthoughts #weekendthoughts #strangethoughts #beautyinstrangeness #strangenessinbeauty http://bit.ly/2zQeg8v