Recent Posts
For Kate Parker, the message behind “Strong Is The New Pretty,” her widely popular and insanely powerful photo-series collection, was not planned from the get-go.
Images of her daughters and friends portrayed in their element as strong and happy girls started to challenge society’s standards of beauty – and Parker ran with it. Her photographs, which can be described as raw, genuine, true and strong, began catching the public’s eye and for reasons we can all celebrate – girls being their true and only selves.
ENTITY decided to catch up with the inspirational woman and get the backside story of the art photographs, their trending fame, her creative process and the future world she envisions for her daughters.
Entity: How do you feel looking back at the recognition and press your series, “Strong is the New Pretty,” has received?
Kate Parker: I feel honored, humbled and proud. I love that the stories and images of these amazing and strong girls are being shared and seen. I want all girls out there to be inspired, to see themselves in the girls in the images and know that they can do and be anything they dream.
Entity: When you began to shoot this series, did you know that the underlying message was at play? Or was it a realization that came after a few shots were taken?
Kate Parker: Honestly, there was no great plan at the beginning. I was just a mom shooting my girls and their friends. The realization that there was something greater at play and a larger message came when I had curated the best 20 or so images for a gallery show. Seeing them as a whole and together on a wall, something clicked in me.
The strongest images were the ones where the girls were being 100% themselves; being free, being silly, being dirty, fierce and just awesome. “Strong Is the New Pretty” was born.
Entity: What do your daughters say about the series?
Kate Parker: They love the message of the series – it is the taking of the pictures that they don’t love so much. They’re over it!
Entity: What world do you envision for your daughters in 20 years?
Kate Parker:
I hope they live in a world where the expectation is that they can do, be, achieve and dream anything they want. I want them to have the same opportunities as anyone else.
Entity: What effect, if any, does shooting in black and white versus color have on your creative process?
Kate Parker: When I shoot, I shoot for emotion, or action or light and then convert to black and white later. I always shoot in color, to leave the option there to choose black and white if I like, later. I love black and white images for their starkness, their emotionality and clarity. I love color for showing energy and vitality.
Entity: In addition to “Strong is the New Pretty,” you have a series titled “Blended.” Can you describe the meaning behind “Blended”?
Kate Parker: We were lucky enough to have an African American little boy adopted into our family (my sister and her husband) and it just moved me so much how beautiful he was, how happy my sister and husband were, how excited my girls were and how loved he is. I wanted to share that.
Entity: What is the next step for “Strong is The New Pretty” and for your photography as a whole?
Kate Parker: I am working on finishing up the “Strong is the New Pretty” book, which takes the series and expands it to include girls around the country and Canada. All kinds of girls, all kinds of strengths. I am so excited about this book. It will be published with Workman Publishing in Spring 2017.
My goal is to continue to shoot images that matter to me, be it showing young girls as strong role models or the beauty of adoption. I love capturing moments that move me and sharing those with others.
Entity: What was life like for you as a little girl?
Kate Parker: It was great. I had a very blessed childhood. I was the youngest of four with two older brothers and a sister. All I wanted to do was be just like my brothers, playing soccer and acting silly.
Entity: What is the best thing a woman or girl can be for themselves?
Kate Parker: To be themselves! Unapologetically and to 100% be yourself.
