Okay, let's paint this scene in our heads. After school, you come home, grab a snack and sit in front of the computer. You immediately go to tumblr and see your friend post a picture of Selena Gomez. "Wow," you think, "she looks so pretty in that picture. How did she get her hair to get that beautiful curl? Her arms looks so soft! How is it possible that she's that gorgeous when she's only a little big older than me!"

Ads of celebrities tend to make them look gorgeous as if they weren't human. When we, just normal people in society, look at these pictures, right away we think: "How come I don't look like that? Does this mean I'm not pretty? Do others think I'm hideous?" Don't hate on yourself. Simple, it's called Photoshop. Photoshop takes this original picture and edits them to make the subject look even more beautiful than they already are. Not only Photoshop, but makeup does the job too! Using only simple cosmetics like eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara, foundation, etc you are able to change an ordinary face to a superhuman model. Check these out.
That was Angelina Jolie, and Miley Cyrus ...... without makeup. I can't say they're not pretty, but you can tell how much of a difference it is by putting on makeup, and no makeup.

With Photoshop, it's completely different. You're taking an original image (let's say a person), and you're editing the picture until it's someone completely different. Ads that use editing programs like these play with our minds. We think we know what we're seeing, when in reality, it's not really like that. Although, truth be told, I do like the edited pictures better, but don't get me wrong. I find it sad how they have to manipulate and alter the original images to sell their product or whatever they're advertising. It's as if they were saying "the original person is not good enough, we must change the picture to look more delightful so more people can buy our product!" When one company thinks that way, the others start to follow. Soon it is a competition between companies using their so called 'beautiful, altered' models. Between all this commotion about whose pretty and whose not, if you were to put a picture like the one on the left, compared to the one at the bottom, the company who used the picture at the bottom would definitely have more people buying their product just because the edited picture is more attractive. After seeing these Photoshopped images in ads, we really believe there are people who have flawless skin exist while people with human flaws do not live up to the high standards of these goddesses.

This all changes in September 2009, when photographer Peter Lindbergh did a photoshoot with nine models with no makeup, and no editing images on Photoshop. In these nine pictures, I can sense the picture giving off a 'purity' vibe. It changes the whole trend of "you-have-to-be-beautiful-in-order-to-be-famous." It gave me the impression that even normal people can be famous, or can be important enough to be covered on a magazine spread. I was also proud of what Peter decided to do. He did what not a lot of people would do. This reminds me of the song Fallin' For You by Colbie Caillat. It is indeed a love song, talking about a girl falling in love with a boy. BUT Colbie Caillat, like Peter, went against the "you-have-to-beautiful-in-order-to-be-famous-trend" and chose a normal guy with a normal life to be her actor.

When I see a magazine where they use 'normal' people my first reaction would be surprised. This is because I'm not used to seeing 'normal' people on a magazine spread page. It is usually someone extremely pretty (makeup+Photoshop editing). And then, I would feel happy and proud that the writer chose to put the spotlight on a 'normal' person.

Click here for the Glamour Magazine feature on their Plus Sized Models