thank you so much for having Matt so
excited to be here I’m Kate Parker I’m
from Atlanta
I am a commercial photographer and I
shoot for clients like REI or Walgreens
Kroger stuff like that but I also really
love to shoot personal projects projects
that move me projects that inspire me
I’m a mom I have two girls who are eight
and 11 and like any parent I shoot my
kids all the time I’m just a parent with
like three camera bodies and a giant bag
of lenses and I noticed that the images
that were the strongest of my girls were
the ones where they were being
themselves and for my girls that meant
dirty a lot of times running around they
were fierce they were confident they
weren’t necessarily smiling for the
camera like Alice this is my girl and I
wanted to show that I wanted to do that
let them know that that was okay and so
outlets at Alice she’s still a temper
she takes that for her mommy in that way
and I was trying to capture what was
going on in our lives I was trying to
capture the good like when the Sun
shines and you get to dance with your
dog and I was also trying to capture the
bad you know when you’re trying to learn
the roller skate and you’re like seven
years old it looks so easy but you spend
98 percent of your time like on your
butt I pictured like this all the time
this is my girls and their friends
swimming and I still do I think it’s
really good practice for me as a
photographer to try to remain creative
within a box and that box being my girls
their friends where we live and shooting
all the time inspired me to create a
photography project and movement called
strong is a new pretty it all started
because I was asked to be part of a
gallery show here in Atlanta and I had
to call from thousands and thousands and
years and years of images to find the 20
strongest images that told a story and I
found
those images where were the ones where
the girls were being themselves and they
were confident they were fearless they
were strong and they were powerful and
so I started to make that my goal I
wanted to shoot that way I wanted to
show that side of the girls so like I
said I shoot all the time when we travel
and we see new places when we get lucky
enough that they are cleaning the fire
hydrants on a summer day here in Atlanta
I shot fierce images this I call this
daughters of anarchy you know the TV
show
I shot feisty images the good the bad
the ugly even lice it’s awful if you’ve
ever been through that I shot you know
everyday life that sounded it makes when
you talking to a fan you sound like a
robot the agony of defeat
we’ve probably spent $400 at this one
call game and Taco Mac we have nothing
to stand for it
I shot hopeful images images that show
rule breaking we’re not really supposed
to flip on the beds in our house but
it’s fluid
if I think the light is pretty enough
going a little bit overboard with
calamine lotion everybody here knows you
know that mosquitoes can be pretty tough
my goal with these images was to capture
the true spirit of the girls that that
that were my girls and the girls that I
knew I wasn’t trying to change it or
alter it in too many ways I wanted to
capture the strength and the confidence
and the power that I saw in my girls and
all of their friends and I wasn’t really
seeing it in in what was reflected back
to us I wasn’t seeing this kind of
representation of girls enough and this
is the determination and the confidence
that comes with an undefeated soccer
season I coached these girls and I saw
the power that they had and when my
girls and I would watch TV or read
magazines or go to the movies the women
that and the girls that we saw reflected
back to us they didn’t look like this
they didn’t act like us they there
era was perfect and you know their
makeup was done and they were smiling
and happy all the time
it wasn’t reality I mean at least it
wasn’t our reality we saw stuff like
this and if you look at these two
magazines you probably get angry like I
did like if you look at the girls Life
magazine how to wake up pretty how to
fix your dream hair versus boys life
explore your future boys and here when
we went shopping the girls babies I hate
my thighs versus I’m super for boys and
I only date heroes versus I am a
superhero and this last one building
sets versus girls building sets
I don’t think toys should have a gender
and all of this made me angry and it
made me angry enough to do something
about it I didn’t want my girls growing
up thinking that their worth was
determined by what their hair looked
like in the morning the size of their
top thighs or what she to pink that
their toys came in so I started to
really intently shoot more and more
trying to capture that spirit and that
that power that I saw in my girls and
yes sometimes it meant pretending soccer
balls were there pregnant bellies but
that’s what it is and so you know that
gallery show that I talked about before
here in Atlanta it was a huge bust I
didn’t sell a single image and I I got
angry and then I got like disappointed
and I was like Oh what was me my work
isn’t any good and then I kind of got
like I got angry because I again it’s
kind of like this up and down for me but
I got mad and I thought you know what
there’s worse there’s something in these
images there’s something worthwhile
and so I packaged up the images and sent
them to a few blogs that I followed just
because I thought there was a message
there and from that the images went
viral they were seen and shared millions
of times they were on BuzzFeed and CNN
Today Show I was so thankful and so
happy that I was not the only one that
thought girls needed to hear this
message and from that little bit of
viral stuff that was honestly very
stressful I had an opportunity to create
a book
for me it wasn’t my intention but it
made perfect sense that there was
something that could be concrete and
long-lasting and that you could have on
your table you could give it to girls
that you thought needed to hear this
message and I looked at that book as
this amazing opportunity to expand the
kind of strength that I was shooting
which at its current state the project
was really just suburban Atlanta girls
and that represents only one sliver of
the kind of strength and power that
girls have so I really looked at it this
chance to expand that and I spent the
last two years traveling all over the
country shooting all kinds of girls you
know went East Coast West Coast Hawaii
Midwest Texas everywhere and I shot
girls who inspire girls who persevere
and my goal was to capture and pass
along the values that my parents who are
here taught me that your value it does
not reside and what you look like it
doesn’t matter what your hair looks like
it’s and who you are what you do and how
you act and that was what I was trying
to pass along to my girls and so strong
as the new pretty was born and yeah
strong has always been pretty this is
not new but what is new are pressures
that our girls face today with the
internet and photoshopped everything and
filtered there’s this pressure and this
expectation to be perfect and everything
to look perfect and I think as adults we
can understand that that’s not true but
I wanted looked at this book and look at
this movement as an opportunity to
present some truth to girls to present a
reality that you know that girls look
this way they act this way girls do
these things rather than what you know
what 99% was given to them already one
thing as I was going through and I was
shooting all kinds of girls and I was
shooting really successful girls girls
that were excelling they were at the top
of whatever their passions were like I
shot pilot I shot musicians I shot
athletes and I noticed the thread in all
of them all of the girls that were
succeeding all of the girls that were
doing well and all the girls that had
had God have gotten to the top of where
they were they weren’t the most talented
necessarily the thing about those girls
was that they had grit they didn’t give
up they didn’t take no for an answer
they kept doing something after people
told them that they shouldn’t do it or
that it wasn’t okay I also wanted girls
with this book and this project – no –
you can’t dream something necessarily if
you’ve never see it like Maddie said I
never met a female firefighter before
now I know it’s possible I also wanted
girls to see possibilities I wanted them
to know that they could start a band if
they wanted to they could wrestle the
boys and win most of their matches they
could think they’re awesome say they’re
awesome say they’re awesome in a book
and that’s amazing that you don’t have
to be clean or even close to be clean to
be beautiful that you can pursue your
dreams no matter what challenges life
puts in your way the notion that girls
are not good at math and science giant
lie that girls do not support one
another and their caddy is not true that
the sky could literally be the limit and
the idea that valedictorians are just
smart in books and academics is just the
tip of the iceberg
I wanted girls to know that they it’s
okay to be loud and in-your-face and
that’s okay that’s not just okay it’s
encouraged there is a strength and a
power in knowing your emotions and being
able to express them and that strength
can present itself in so many different
ways this is Lauren I shot Lauren and
she came to my studio and she’s
literally was trailing trailing glitter
and had princess dress like with taffeta
and high heels and Lauren her quote says
even a princess can be a warrior my
cancer didn’t stand a chance
strong is not always you know tomboys
and making a muscle and dirt strong ed
Lauren overcoming her cancer through
chemotherapy and surgeries to
sascha in my studio with a completely
positive attitude this I think this is
my favorite picture and quote in the
book and this is Leslie Leslie said many
girls grew up dreaming of a hero to save
them
I grew up dreaming of becoming one and I
just think that’s so telling at 18
justify like 18 years of fairy tales and
princess stories of girls being
inundated with this message someone will
save them Leslie rejected that and more
so she was strong enough to know others
needed her help Leslie for sure is my
hero strong as a new pretty is about
giving power to girls and finding out
what’s important to girls supporting
them in that and figuring out helping
girls figure out what is unique about
them and celebrating that even when
others question it and finding out who
you are and pursuing that 100% really
the goal in the message here so that as
strong as a new pretty thank you very
much
[Applause]
excited to be here I’m Kate Parker I’m
from Atlanta
I am a commercial photographer and I
shoot for clients like REI or Walgreens
Kroger stuff like that but I also really
love to shoot personal projects projects
that move me projects that inspire me
I’m a mom I have two girls who are eight
and 11 and like any parent I shoot my
kids all the time I’m just a parent with
like three camera bodies and a giant bag
of lenses and I noticed that the images
that were the strongest of my girls were
the ones where they were being
themselves and for my girls that meant
dirty a lot of times running around they
were fierce they were confident they
weren’t necessarily smiling for the
camera like Alice this is my girl and I
wanted to show that I wanted to do that
let them know that that was okay and so
outlets at Alice she’s still a temper
she takes that for her mommy in that way
and I was trying to capture what was
going on in our lives I was trying to
capture the good like when the Sun
shines and you get to dance with your
dog and I was also trying to capture the
bad you know when you’re trying to learn
the roller skate and you’re like seven
years old it looks so easy but you spend
98 percent of your time like on your
butt I pictured like this all the time
this is my girls and their friends
swimming and I still do I think it’s
really good practice for me as a
photographer to try to remain creative
within a box and that box being my girls
their friends where we live and shooting
all the time inspired me to create a
photography project and movement called
strong is a new pretty it all started
because I was asked to be part of a
gallery show here in Atlanta and I had
to call from thousands and thousands and
years and years of images to find the 20
strongest images that told a story and I
found
those images where were the ones where
the girls were being themselves and they
were confident they were fearless they
were strong and they were powerful and
so I started to make that my goal I
wanted to shoot that way I wanted to
show that side of the girls so like I
said I shoot all the time when we travel
and we see new places when we get lucky
enough that they are cleaning the fire
hydrants on a summer day here in Atlanta
I shot fierce images this I call this
daughters of anarchy you know the TV
show
I shot feisty images the good the bad
the ugly even lice it’s awful if you’ve
ever been through that I shot you know
everyday life that sounded it makes when
you talking to a fan you sound like a
robot the agony of defeat
we’ve probably spent $400 at this one
call game and Taco Mac we have nothing
to stand for it
I shot hopeful images images that show
rule breaking we’re not really supposed
to flip on the beds in our house but
it’s fluid
if I think the light is pretty enough
going a little bit overboard with
calamine lotion everybody here knows you
know that mosquitoes can be pretty tough
my goal with these images was to capture
the true spirit of the girls that that
that were my girls and the girls that I
knew I wasn’t trying to change it or
alter it in too many ways I wanted to
capture the strength and the confidence
and the power that I saw in my girls and
all of their friends and I wasn’t really
seeing it in in what was reflected back
to us I wasn’t seeing this kind of
representation of girls enough and this
is the determination and the confidence
that comes with an undefeated soccer
season I coached these girls and I saw
the power that they had and when my
girls and I would watch TV or read
magazines or go to the movies the women
that and the girls that we saw reflected
back to us they didn’t look like this
they didn’t act like us they there
era was perfect and you know their
makeup was done and they were smiling
and happy all the time
it wasn’t reality I mean at least it
wasn’t our reality we saw stuff like
this and if you look at these two
magazines you probably get angry like I
did like if you look at the girls Life
magazine how to wake up pretty how to
fix your dream hair versus boys life
explore your future boys and here when
we went shopping the girls babies I hate
my thighs versus I’m super for boys and
I only date heroes versus I am a
superhero and this last one building
sets versus girls building sets
I don’t think toys should have a gender
and all of this made me angry and it
made me angry enough to do something
about it I didn’t want my girls growing
up thinking that their worth was
determined by what their hair looked
like in the morning the size of their
top thighs or what she to pink that
their toys came in so I started to
really intently shoot more and more
trying to capture that spirit and that
that power that I saw in my girls and
yes sometimes it meant pretending soccer
balls were there pregnant bellies but
that’s what it is and so you know that
gallery show that I talked about before
here in Atlanta it was a huge bust I
didn’t sell a single image and I I got
angry and then I got like disappointed
and I was like Oh what was me my work
isn’t any good and then I kind of got
like I got angry because I again it’s
kind of like this up and down for me but
I got mad and I thought you know what
there’s worse there’s something in these
images there’s something worthwhile
and so I packaged up the images and sent
them to a few blogs that I followed just
because I thought there was a message
there and from that the images went
viral they were seen and shared millions
of times they were on BuzzFeed and CNN
Today Show I was so thankful and so
happy that I was not the only one that
thought girls needed to hear this
message and from that little bit of
viral stuff that was honestly very
stressful I had an opportunity to create
a book
for me it wasn’t my intention but it
made perfect sense that there was
something that could be concrete and
long-lasting and that you could have on
your table you could give it to girls
that you thought needed to hear this
message and I looked at that book as
this amazing opportunity to expand the
kind of strength that I was shooting
which at its current state the project
was really just suburban Atlanta girls
and that represents only one sliver of
the kind of strength and power that
girls have so I really looked at it this
chance to expand that and I spent the
last two years traveling all over the
country shooting all kinds of girls you
know went East Coast West Coast Hawaii
Midwest Texas everywhere and I shot
girls who inspire girls who persevere
and my goal was to capture and pass
along the values that my parents who are
here taught me that your value it does
not reside and what you look like it
doesn’t matter what your hair looks like
it’s and who you are what you do and how
you act and that was what I was trying
to pass along to my girls and so strong
as the new pretty was born and yeah
strong has always been pretty this is
not new but what is new are pressures
that our girls face today with the
internet and photoshopped everything and
filtered there’s this pressure and this
expectation to be perfect and everything
to look perfect and I think as adults we
can understand that that’s not true but
I wanted looked at this book and look at
this movement as an opportunity to
present some truth to girls to present a
reality that you know that girls look
this way they act this way girls do
these things rather than what you know
what 99% was given to them already one
thing as I was going through and I was
shooting all kinds of girls and I was
shooting really successful girls girls
that were excelling they were at the top
of whatever their passions were like I
shot pilot I shot musicians I shot
athletes and I noticed the thread in all
of them all of the girls that were
succeeding all of the girls that were
doing well and all the girls that had
had God have gotten to the top of where
they were they weren’t the most talented
necessarily the thing about those girls
was that they had grit they didn’t give
up they didn’t take no for an answer
they kept doing something after people
told them that they shouldn’t do it or
that it wasn’t okay I also wanted girls
with this book and this project – no –
you can’t dream something necessarily if
you’ve never see it like Maddie said I
never met a female firefighter before
now I know it’s possible I also wanted
girls to see possibilities I wanted them
to know that they could start a band if
they wanted to they could wrestle the
boys and win most of their matches they
could think they’re awesome say they’re
awesome say they’re awesome in a book
and that’s amazing that you don’t have
to be clean or even close to be clean to
be beautiful that you can pursue your
dreams no matter what challenges life
puts in your way the notion that girls
are not good at math and science giant
lie that girls do not support one
another and their caddy is not true that
the sky could literally be the limit and
the idea that valedictorians are just
smart in books and academics is just the
tip of the iceberg
I wanted girls to know that they it’s
okay to be loud and in-your-face and
that’s okay that’s not just okay it’s
encouraged there is a strength and a
power in knowing your emotions and being
able to express them and that strength
can present itself in so many different
ways this is Lauren I shot Lauren and
she came to my studio and she’s
literally was trailing trailing glitter
and had princess dress like with taffeta
and high heels and Lauren her quote says
even a princess can be a warrior my
cancer didn’t stand a chance
strong is not always you know tomboys
and making a muscle and dirt strong ed
Lauren overcoming her cancer through
chemotherapy and surgeries to
sascha in my studio with a completely
positive attitude this I think this is
my favorite picture and quote in the
book and this is Leslie Leslie said many
girls grew up dreaming of a hero to save
them
I grew up dreaming of becoming one and I
just think that’s so telling at 18
justify like 18 years of fairy tales and
princess stories of girls being
inundated with this message someone will
save them Leslie rejected that and more
so she was strong enough to know others
needed her help Leslie for sure is my
hero strong as a new pretty is about
giving power to girls and finding out
what’s important to girls supporting
them in that and figuring out helping
girls figure out what is unique about
them and celebrating that even when
others question it and finding out who
you are and pursuing that 100% really
the goal in the message here so that as
strong as a new pretty thank you very
much
[Applause]
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