User submission

I Wanted To Show All The Shades Of Beauty And Photographed 10 Different Girls With Varying Skin Tones All Together

In my work as a photographer, I have photographed all sorts of people from all kinds of backgrounds. In these last few years, I have made a niche for myself by photographing both young people and strong women in my community.

From that sourced a project that was truly dear to my heart – the “Shades of Beauty” photography project where I could marry my love for taking inspirational portraits of women and making young women feel empowered through portrait photography. For this project, the specific scope was celebrating all of the different “shades” of skin that we come in.For this project, I did a model call of 10 different models of high school age from 10 different backgrounds including African, African American, Middle Eastern, Asian, Caucasian, Native American, mixed races, Hispanic & South Asian. It came together perfectly and I’ve NEVER seen a group of girls get along SO well.

As an immigrant to this country, a woman, and as a photographer, I couldn’t ask for a project that hit closer to home.

Thank you to my amazing team, Tonasha at Beauty by Tonasha who provided professional hair services, Danica American Beauty South Dakota who provided professional airbrush makeup, and to all of the models, parents, and friends who helped make this shoot a success!

My heart is completely full.

More info: Instagram | Facebook | maggiesweetsphotography.com

I Wanted To Show All The Shades Of Beauty And Photographed 10 Different Girls With Varying Skin Tones All Together

As a bonus, here are some behind-the-scenes photos that show how we’ve done it

I Wanted To Show All The Shades Of Beauty And Photographed 10 Different Girls With Varying Skin Tones All Together

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Maggie Sweets is a wife, mother, and entrepreneur. She is also an artist, teacher, and award-winning photographer. Maggie has the kindness of spirit her name (yes, it’s real) suggests. She also possesses the passion and vision to create extraordinary images that bring imagination and reality into perfect focus. The results are fantastical photographs that puzzle the eye and delight the spirit.

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Hey there, Pandas! My name is Diana (though some prefer to refer to me as Diane, Deanna, and even Liana sometimes), and I am a Community Post Moderator Lead for Bored Panda. As my position title states, I am one of the people (employed Pandas for bamboo) over here who work with the community side of things on this website to ensure all is well, and while at that, I also help various creators and artists get recognition for the incredible work they do by connecting them to a large worldwide audience. Other than that, outside of work, you can find me brewing a nice cup of coffee, making a pizza from scratch, or baking brownies. I also love traveling, concerts, and cats (heavy on that, because I am a cat mom).

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What do you think ?

POST

Barbara 2 years ago

They are beautiful, but too much Photoshop. They have no facial texture :(

35points

Maxi 1 year ago

Yeah, I agree, I loved it, but would like too see imperfections and facial texture...

6points

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Camilo's Bestie 2 years ago

I love this and they are all so pretty ❤

24points

Madeleine Flowers 2 years ago

These photos are amazing! I'm glad you got to take them, and thank you for sharing.

19points

Isabella 2 years ago

Pity, their faces have heavy make-up and the pictures are heavily photoshopped too; their true skin tone is not actually visible.

17points

Cynthia M. 2 years ago

Something looks off and i think it's the eye makeup in each girl. It is way too glittery and it draws attention away from the beauty of the pics. Almost comically glittery.

14points

Chaotic-Pansexual (she/they) 2 years ago

Yeah I kind of agree. I also don’t like that they all have the same makeup style. Makes them look very uniform, when this post is supposed to be about embracing diversity

14points

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Nothanks L. Walk 2 years ago

Two latte, one coffee, seven capuccino, ALL TEN covered in several pounds of metallic carpaint and teeth straight out of that Friends episode where Ross' abuse of whitener made his smile glow in the dark. Darker girls lightened, light girls darkened. This is not only NOT the human range of skin tones, it's not even a fair profile of just american skin tones.... it's a kartrashian makeup tutorial.

10points

Temporary Dork 1 year ago

My thoughts exactly. Nine light-skinned girls, as if there is no nuance in Black.

6points

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Cray Melton 2 years ago

no freckles

10points

everyone's favorite person 2 years ago

they're all so pretty alaojwnalocurnla

8points

VeninTheNonBinaryRogue 2 years ago

*gay panic*

4points

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Saint Thomas 2 years ago

Really nice concept and pictures ! The editing is a bit too heavy on the face portraits (skin looks almost artificial), but that's just my opinion.

6points

Ponyo (they/them) 2 years ago

i wish they had plus size models too, that would bring in even more diversity

6points

Sam T 2 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

0points

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boredravenclaw 2 years ago

they’re all so gorgeous ❤️

4points

Julie Snelling 1 year ago

These girls are so pretty. I know this was about celebrating skin colour but think they definitely needed a red head. Red heads usually have very pale skin so it would have fitted.

3points

rehanne garvey 2 years ago

Where my gingers atttt

3points

Clandestine 2 years ago

I really like this concept. The hand gradient was my favorite

3points

Joybug 2 years ago

The hand one is beautiful.

3points

Kristie French 1 year ago

I’m not seeing much skin diversity. Most of them have the same tone. 1 dark, 2 very light, and the rest mid-range. Just like make-up brands think women are. There are more than 3 skin tones.

2points

Earl Grey 2 years ago

Also related, in the National Gallery of Art there is an installation named “Synecdoche” by artist Byron Kim, which consists of plywood panels of oil-and-wax paintings of human skin tones, first exhibited in 1993. It is periodically updated and rearranged as the exhibit travels. See: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.142289.html 5C5CB0F2-B...9-jpeg.jpg

2points

Suz66 2 years ago

I love it! I bet the ladies had fun at the photo shoot!

2points

jon gilbertson 1 year ago

where's the freckled red head? they are amazingly beautiful.

1point

Akylah McKenzie 1 year ago

Love this!!! But...where are the freckles at??

1point

chimken 🇺🇦 2 years ago

they are all gorgeous! I love how the photographer is expressing equality of all skin tones! We need this in our world

1point

Stefan 2 years ago

The post-production is a bit strange. The dodge and burn too harsh.

1point

Sherman 1 year ago

Rmr when people were allowed to have pores & natural skin texture..... those were the good old days.

0points

Gina Babe 1 year ago

What a powerful photograph. Just gorgeous

0points

Paulsible deniability 1 year ago

Not a single freckled redhead?

0points

Michael Joyce 1 year ago

Shame about all the makeup and Photoshop.

0points

hockeywain 1 year ago

https://sites.google.com/view/dankwood/home https://www.boredpanda.com/?p=5195059

0points

hockeywain 1 year ago

https://sites.google.com/view/dankwood/home

0points

Emma B B 1 year ago

Would have been nice to see a red head with freckles in there tbh. We are so often seen as ugly.

0points

Nora Cook 1 year ago

Boring

0points

Mariana Pinto 1 year ago

Too much make up and Photoshop to be good. I would to see the same pictures without that!

0points

H M 1 year ago

Failed, very few shades of dark at all.

0points

LokisLilButterknife 1 year ago

Why does BoredPanda keep on posting content that is over a year old.

0points

Mike Loux 2 years ago

This is very cool, and they are all beautiful women. Including the photographer.

0points

Max(pronouns/whatever/hamster) 1 year ago

That is really shady

-1point

Sigrid Vinter 2 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

-1point

Try Not To Bother Me 1 year ago

The women are beautiful, but the concept is not original. The group shot reminds me of Barbie, Tinkerbell, Polly Pockets- it's the blond centerpiece surrounded by her friends/accessories. I know it's about symmetry but maybe these groups are not as representative as one would hope when the group shot looks just like what we've seen before.

-2points

Jette Wang Wahnon 2 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Bruno Madrigal 2 years ago (edited)

No one cares. Not one person.

-3points

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Scott Davis 2 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Museo 2 years ago

At least you were somehow aware of the nonsense you were writing. ;-)

7points

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POST

Barbara 2 years ago

They are beautiful, but too much Photoshop. They have no facial texture :(

35points

Maxi 1 year ago

Yeah, I agree, I loved it, but would like too see imperfections and facial texture...

6points

Load More Replies...

Camilo's Bestie 2 years ago

I love this and they are all so pretty ❤

24points

Madeleine Flowers 2 years ago

These photos are amazing! I'm glad you got to take them, and thank you for sharing.

19points

Isabella 2 years ago

Pity, their faces have heavy make-up and the pictures are heavily photoshopped too; their true skin tone is not actually visible.

17points

Cynthia M. 2 years ago

Something looks off and i think it's the eye makeup in each girl. It is way too glittery and it draws attention away from the beauty of the pics. Almost comically glittery.

14points

Chaotic-Pansexual (she/they) 2 years ago

Yeah I kind of agree. I also don’t like that they all have the same makeup style. Makes them look very uniform, when this post is supposed to be about embracing diversity

14points

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Nothanks L. Walk 2 years ago

10points

Temporary Dork 1 year ago

My thoughts exactly. Nine light-skinned girls, as if there is no nuance in Black.

6points

Load More Replies...

Cray Melton 2 years ago

no freckles

10points

everyone's favorite person 2 years ago

they're all so pretty alaojwnalocurnla

8points

VeninTheNonBinaryRogue 2 years ago

*gay panic*

4points

Load More Replies...

Saint Thomas 2 years ago

Really nice concept and pictures ! The editing is a bit too heavy on the face portraits (skin looks almost artificial), but that's just my opinion.

6points

Ponyo (they/them) 2 years ago

i wish they had plus size models too, that would bring in even more diversity

6points

Sam T 2 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

0points

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boredravenclaw 2 years ago

they’re all so gorgeous ❤️

4points

Julie Snelling 1 year ago

These girls are so pretty. I know this was about celebrating skin colour but think they definitely needed a red head. Red heads usually have very pale skin so it would have fitted.

3points

rehanne garvey 2 years ago

Where my gingers atttt

3points

Clandestine 2 years ago

I really like this concept. The hand gradient was my favorite

3points

Joybug 2 years ago

The hand one is beautiful.

3points

Kristie French 1 year ago

I’m not seeing much skin diversity. Most of them have the same tone. 1 dark, 2 very light, and the rest mid-range. Just like make-up brands think women are. There are more than 3 skin tones.

2points