Everywoman [ˈevrēˌwo͝omən] – the ordinary or typical woman
Beautiful [ˈbyo͞odəfəl] - pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically
Rita (actual name withheld by request) is an ordinary woman, no longer young, but not yet old. She has a few scars and her hair, beneath its salon color, has begun to gray. She weighs more than she’d like but not as much as she did. She speaks of how her mother, self-conscious of her weight, refused to be photographed during her childhood years. Just as she and her siblings entered adulthood, their mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She began to encourage her children to take snapshots, but they were loath to document her illness. The result: a generation lost.
Not long ago, Rita found herself in a similar situation, “I was facing surgery and was afraid that I’d feel less of a woman afterward.” She’d been looking through photo albums and had noticed a gap in her personal history. There were grade school pictures, a senior portrait, and wedding photos, then virtually nothing. It has taken over forty years, but Rita finally believes that she is worthwhile. Determined to not make her mother’s mistake, she scheduled a photo shoot to provide her family with a tangible memory. “I had overcome my fear of rejection and could finally look at myself in a mirror with pride. It was time to face another phobia: being photographed,” she says with a laugh.
On the appointed day, she found herself not thrilled, but apprehensive of the process. Looking at the stylebooks – all those trim, perfectly coiffed models – and staring at the posters of smiling, windswept beauties made her feel hopeless. Rita recalls how her stylist, Michelle Holt, came to sit beside her, gently closed the book, and said, “Forget this. You are your own kind of beautiful. Let’s show them that.”
Later, in front of the camera, being instructed to turn one way while looking another, walking like a runway model, and posing with leg bent, hand on hip, she felt like a fraud. “It just wasn’t me.” Photographer Phil Balko offered words of reassurance, “You are beautiful and it’s okay to feel beautiful.”
Twice in one day she’d heard the word but, still, she couldn’t believe. But, then came proof – photographic proof. Looking at her portraits she saw a beautiful woman. Not a rail thin supermodel, not an airbrushed end product, but a real, live, beautiful woman. From Rita’s experience was born the Everywoman: beautiful campaign.
The movement started at Image Makers Studio on Main Street in Somerset. “One of the things I like best about this business,” says Ruth Walker, who owns the studio with her daughter Kristin Walters, and daughter-in-law Connie Walker, “is that I get to meet so many wonderful people.” She smiles with affection and something akin to maternal pride as her ‘girls’ – stylists Kayla Lepley, Jenn Fritz, and Michelle Holt - playfully reenact a scene from Charlie’s Angels for the camera.
The auxiliary salon has been transformed for the day into a makeshift photography studio where Ruth is treating some of her favorite clients to a professional portrait session with Photography by Balko. The portraits will soon begin to replace the posters provided by fashion magazines and hair product manufacturers. “We feel that our clients better represent what we see as true beauty and this is a great way to showcase the talents of our staff, as well.”
While Phil Balko is lauded for his landscapes, he is best known for his work in wedding photography and portraits done in unique settings. When asked what he enjoys most he replies, “Kids and dogs can do no wrong, but the truth is, all my subjects are beautiful.”
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