These powerful photographs prove that strong is the new pretty

Kate T Parker starting photographing her children for one simple reason: "I wanted to celebrate these girls as they are, not how females are expected to be."

The project soon evolved into the photo-series strong is the new pretty. "Initially, this project started as a desire to record my daughters and the memories of their childhood, as well as practice with my camera and different lighting situations, environments, times of day," Parker said in an email to i100.co.uk.

After about a year or so, it organically grew into something different. The images changed. I started to see patterns and recognize that the images where the girls were authentically captured were the strongest images.

The images that showed the girls as they genuinely are were my favourites. After seeing this, I started to shoot with that in mind.

The project became about capturing my girls and their friends as they truly are and how that is OK. Not only OK, but worthy of celebration.

There's a lot of pressure for girls (and women) to look a certain way, act in certain manner, and I wanted to let my daughters know that who they naturally are is enough.

All images courtesy of Kate Parker Facebook/wwwkatetparkerphotography.com

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