Revealing Lana: Passion For Other People

Hair and Makeup by Kada from Bombay Beauty Loft. Clothes from Studio Intent

Lana is a fun enthusiastic lady who fell in love with the concept behind Reveal Your True Beauty from the moment we talked. She is passionate about entrepreneurship but specially keen of entrepreneurship with a social mission. So is no surprise that she works behind the scenes of REAP Calgary and Kensington Village supporting everything local and/or sustainable.

I have to admit I enjoyed how awkward she felt at the beginning of her session because she made it fun. She would laugh about herself and joked about it and tried hard to focus to no avail but then the awkwardness disappeared and I was able to capture all of her awesome personality, specially her "daydreaming" (as seen above). I personally love it because you know she's processing, thinking, solving and creating ideas on those moments. Moments in which her eyes start drifting into oblivion as you are talking to her, and then all of a sudden she wakes up and tells you all about it with excitement. It's always fun and great doing creative pow wows with her.

As better described by one of her friends:

"Lana is a compassionate, enthusiastic person with great passion for other people".

In her own words:

"I would recommend this experience to other people because I think it's something we don't consider to do for ourselves... You get to keep these beautiful photos for many years... It reminds yourself how beautiful you are".

Want to know more about Lana's story? Check her video interview HERE

What Makes You Beautiful

Last year I had an enlightening moment. I was going through the specifics of the vision I have for my business; an exercise I try to practice regularly to keep my focus on the right path for the Reveal Your True Beauty experience. I was thinking about the lack of tools and guidance I had when a teenager and wondered how much it would have helped back then and how much more impact it would have at young age instead of adult life. 

I thought about the strength of my personal story and how, despite how hard it seemed at the time, I was able to understand it, overcome it and learn from it. I thought about how I could reach out to teen girls and be there for them just as I would have liked to have a positive guidance about what to do with myself in a world that was telling me that being myself was wrong. 

2014 was a big year for empowering women campaigns around the world. I knew I wasn't alone on wanting to help young generations so I googled it, plain and simple. that's when I found Young Women Of Power or YWOP. 

Their goal is simple: 

"When girls leave our conference they will go away embracing who they are, motivated to support other girls and inspired to creatively use their talents to encourage and uplift those around them."

“I am a Beautiful, Wise, Powerful Woman of Principle”

Does it sound familiar? Of course it does, it's so connected to what we do with Reveal Your True Beauty, I was so excited! I emailed Alison, the founder, and shared my story with her. She emailed back eager to meet and so we did. Now, I'm very happy to say I will be speaking to girls between the ages of 12 and 18 about finding beauty by learning to love.

As I'm organizing my ideas for the workshop, I can't stop but thinking that is something that women of all ages need to learn and so, I'll share it through here. Not as I will say it at the workshop but as it's created. As words and ideas come to mind to form the final speech but also more detailed than the final sketch will be. As you know, these are ideas that come to mind from a personal level, from experience in walking the journey of self discovery and self love. I'm not a professional in this matter, just someone who shares her thoughts hoping I can share with you a bit of light to help you find your own path.

On April 17th/15, I'll be one of the speakers at the annual workshop organized by Young Women of Power. 

What makes you beautiful is the capacity of learning to accept yourself and to forgive yourself in order to not think of yourself, so that your personal growth is focused towards being a better person for others, by staying true to who you really are. At the end, is the light that shines within you towards others that make you beautiful.

What? Please let me elaborate on that:

What happens when you check off things from a to-do list? You don't have to think of it anymore, right? It's done and gone. Accepting and forgiving ourselves are the ink and pen that checks off worries from our list. So what happens then? Those things you don't like about yourself, those insecurities that don't let you be who you are, are done and gone, leaving you with more time and energy to invest in better things to do. When you accept and forgive yourself, you understand yourself which makes you love yourself. 

What happens when you love someone? You give them your all; you like making them happy, you are filled with joy when you can help them be their better selves and when they make a mistake, you don't judge them, you give them your gracious hand to help them get out of the mud and try again, because nobody is perfect.

Now let's write again the paragraph above but with a twist:

What happens when you love yourself? You give yourself your all; you like making yourself happy, you are filled with joy when you can help yourself be your better self and when you make a mistake, you don't judge yourself, you show yourself grace to get out of the mud and try again, because nobody is perfect.

Now, let's hold on to that thought and let's read below a more universally known paragraph (and wiser too):

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7(NLT)

 Can you apply those words towards you?

When you get to this state of mind, it all comes effortlessly so you forget about yourself, because "yourself" is not a worry anymore. If you love yourself in that way, instinctively you'll do the same to others. That bright flame you've been working on inside you will grow into a beautiful lighthouse that guides others in their own paths. And all by being who you really are. Isn't it amazing?

So when you have the right focus towards yourself, it is not a selfish act but rather an act of selflessness because it'll be others who will taste the fruit of the work you do in yourself, because it is others who will see your bright light shine through and be inspired by your true being to also be their better selves.

All it takes is the first step towards the right direction. The first step might be the hardest but also so rewarding.

Be true to yourself to find your truth.

Revealing Terezia: The Power Of Overcoming Depression

Hair and Makeup by Kada Issa from Bombay Beauty Loft. Styling by Studio Intent Boutique

I first photographed Terezia almost 3 years ago. She needed author photos for her then upcoming book "Heart Of Love Evolution" (which is now a Bestseller). She knew exactly what she wanted but allowed me to play with that a little, which turned out into my images being front and cover of her book, so neat!

She has since become a sweet friend. Despite her struggle with depression, which she speaks openly about through her book, she is a wonderful joyful person who is not afraid to let her emotions be known. You know she IS happy to see you, not only because she says it but because all of her being smiles. She has a gorgeous big and sincere smile with a great sense of humour and a talent for chatting. Every time we see each other (which is not often considering she lives in Edmonton) we have a time constriction, but we always end up arriving late at our next commitment, because she is so fun to be around with, that you won't notice time flying by. 

A big warm hugger, Terezia came once more to me, this time for a Reveal Your True Beauty session and as always a blast and lots of belly ache laughter. She calls me her "personal photographer" and I must admit, I really like the title.

Her brother (an amazing loyal and caring brother by the way), always her close companion, best friend and confident, has been present at both her sessions. Here's what he has to say about Terezia:

"She's gregarious, outgoing. Caring and sensitive.

Intelligent. Likes intellectual games, conversation.

Enjoys gourmet food. Shy. Likes gardening and Scifi."

Terezia has come a long way. Since publishing her book she has become an Award winning author and a writer for Huffington Post, CNN and Beliefnet. If you're interested in following what she's up to, you can do so at www.tereziafarkas.com

Here is what Terezia has to say about her Reveal Your True Beauty experience:

"Second time Fela Dales had done my author photos. Drove in from out of town just so Fela would be my photographer. Her focus on revealing the inner beauty of women and young girls is inspirational. We definitely need more Fela's in our world! Thanks for an awesome time, the laughs and beautiful photos. See you a third time next year!"

Revealing Andi: The Strength Of A Single Mom

Hair and Makeup by Kada from Bombay Beauty Loft. Styling by Studio Intent

I've always admired single moms. When my son came in the picture, we were three adults raising him and many times we thought we weren't enough. He is a handful!

When my mom went back to Colombia, my husband had a business trip and I had a week living as a single mom. I consider myself pretty tough. After all, I have endured and achieved a LOT of things in my life and if there's something I'm proud of it's my focus on doing everything the best way possible -top notch. But boy did I get a lesson on humbleness that week! I was waking up at 6am and going to bed at midnight without stopping. I was literally crawling to get to my bed; sore and mentally, physically and emotionally drained. I'll admit it, I cried as I was resting my head on the pillow. So if I had admire single mothers in the past, now I have a deep respect. I had only one week but they get to do it non stopping!

Enter Andi. She's a wonderful woman, mother of a cute little boy who moved to Alberta to provide her son with the quality of life he deserves. With nothing in hand, this amazing lady began her business You and Me Music, focused in music education specializing in Early Childhood Music. And she is good, really! I invited her to my son's birthday party, a group of toddlers. She was able not only keep their attention through the whole 45 minutes (which we know is close to impossible) but towards the end of the class, they were following the rhythm, tempo and making music together. Even stopping when she gave them the signal. All parents were VERY impressed. Not only she has a gift with children, she also has a beautiful sweet voice and you can feel all of it coming from the heart. I wouldn't be surprise that's what makes the magic work.

When she came to the studio for her session, we had the nice surprise of her playing the flute while I was photographing her, just so that it would look realistic in photos. I admit I took longer doing this just for the sake of hearing her play; it was lovely!

Here's in her own words what the Reveal Your True Beauty experience was for her:

"Had a wonderful time! I felt really comfortable in 

front of the camera which is not my 'normal' state of 

mind when being photographed. Fela was great at 

coaching me along the way. It felt very natural! What 

a wonderful experience! Thank you Fela!"

Do you know Andi or maybe not? Leave her a note in the comment section below. Words of motivation go a long way! 

Finding Strength To Carry On, Even When You Don't Feel Like It

2015 Started with the wrong foot for me at a personal level. Even though I've been trying to keep my smiley face on and positive attitude, it's hasn't been easy. Especially when I got punched by a fist of bad news on the same week my son was having his second surgery. There was a new announcement every day that week.

Health problems with three family members, my mom going back to Colombia to help after being with me through all of my motherhood career ("I don't know how to be a mom on my own!") and wait for it: a call from the Women's Clinic telling me I had High Grade Dysplasia and needed a L.E.E.P procedure asap. Fun. 

Let's be clear on something: I'm not writing this to rant or to make you feel pity for me. I already had my dose of self pity, because I believe it is healthy to let negative feelings have temporary permission to burst out (I give them a couple of hours or a day, depending on how bad it is). Letting my negative feelings have free range for a limited amount of time  allows my strength and courage to have a rest, breathe, and come back with more power to face what I have to face because you can't simply run away from your problems. 

It's okay to take one step back if it's the one that will give you the impulse to stampede forward.

The reason why I'm sharing all these things with you is because we tend to believe that people with a positive attitude through life and those who always have encouraging words on their lips for everyone are on a pedestal and nothing hurt them or make them doubt about themselves. I'm constantly trying to remind everyone that nobody is perfect and therefore we shouldn't compare ourselves to anyone. 

This is me showing you my vulnerability, so that you know that we are the same. It is okay to feel defeated every now and then; to feel like you can't keep on going, to feel lost, to feel that you are not good enough, to feel angry, sad or cry for hours. But here's the game changer: 

How much freedom and power are you going to allow all these negative feelings?

And here is the reason why I give them temporary reign: To let them know I'M in control; not them. I let them burst because I want to; NOT because THEY want to. Keeping control gives me POWER over them. The next day, I write down a game plan:

- Which problems can I fix? I list them and each one gets it's own list of things I have to do to solve them and I get started right away. If I need help, I ask for it whether I feel embarrassed to ask or not.

- Which problems I cannot fix? Well, here's where my spirituality comes in play and this is personal to everyone. I don't care what religion or ideology you practice, but as long as you have one to hold on to, these problems will be easier than you could believe. I'll share with you how it helps me but YOU have to tailor it to what works for you:

Since I opened my heart to God, it has been quite the journey of learning to forgive myself (because God had already forgiven all my sins) and to learn to trust Him. I've always been the kind of person to try to plan and control absolutely everything, and most of it came to frustration because there are things you just can't control. So learning to trust Him was very hard. Many times I pass him the steering wheel hesitantly and most of those times I would rip it off His hands and try to do it alone, just to fail again. But I gotten better at it because I have found peace in doing that; all my fears are washed away, literally. For example, when I got the news of the High Grade Dysplasia, I couldn't think anything positive out of it. All I could think of was the probability of losing my uterus after talks with my husband of wanting to have another baby this year, or the probability of the L.E.E.P. not working and my Dysplasia developing onto cervical cancer. These fears try to hunt me constantly. But I can't control what's going to happen. I can only do my best which is to allow the doctors do what they do best and place it all on God's hands because He knows better than me what's in store for me. Because He won't put anything on my plate that I can't handle. Because if something bad Does happen, it'll make me stronger. These thoughts bring me peace. I was at peace the day before the procedure and the day of the procedure. The only time I felt nervous was thinking about how painful the procedure was going to be. To my relief, apart from a little spot where the freezing anesthesia didn't work, it was completely painless. 

How do you find the strength to carry on, even when you don't feel like it? Would love to hear about your experience and learn from you too. I'm always on listening and learning mode!

Revealing Nash: The True Beauty Of A TV Host

The first time I met Nash, she took over my photo booth installation at the CAPD Fundraiser Gala event to interview the organizers for her show (inside joke).

The second time was at Sustainable Style YYC where I recognized her and help her find her way through the event. We exchange cards and we soon were meeting over coffee and talking like a pair of "wet parrots" who needed to catch up on each other's lives and dreams as if we had found each other after a long separation.

As described by her husband, Nash is:

"smart, strong independent and tenacious, loving mother and wife. Great spirit and tender heart". 

When we talked about what Reveal Your True Beauty is about, she immediately fell in love with it and asked me if she could film us for her TV Show the next time we had a session. My answer was: 

"I don't think you'll get the grasp of what Reveal Your True Beauty REALLY, truly is, by filming someone else's session. YOU HAVE TO LIVE IT TO FEEL IT. What about we film Your session instead?"

She hesitated and got nervous but immediately shook herself out of it, puffed her chest and said with a nervous laugh: "Ok. Let's do this. I'm so nervous already!"

With the help of her faithful, professional and perfectionist videographer, Mauricio, from Amaca Productions, we began the little adventure of filming everything from beginning to end for her TV Show Conectate con Nash for OmniTV. 

The Result: A fun episode where you can experience through Nash's shoes a Reveal Your True Beauty Session, which you can watch below. Though must of it is in Spanish, english is spoken in some parts of it and language doesn't really affect the viewing experience but rather give you a better insight of it all, in case you were wondering of course (which I hope you were!).

NASH, FELA PHOTOGRAPHY REVELA TU VERDADERA BELLEZA from AMACA PRODUCTIONS on Vimeo.


In Nash's words, the experience was:

"I have to share my wonderful experience with Fela Photography in this great project 'Reveal your true beauty'. Such an amazing way to help people feel like a super star! Since I had this experience I felt comfortable to wear different lipstick colors, try new fabrics and I learned about myself,;I recommend this experience :) thank you girls, you have a great project and a wonderful team!"

If you know Nash, share with us why you think she's a truly beautiful woman in the comments section below. Let her know how amazing she is in your eyes. Words of affirmation can go a long way.

The Joy Of Doing What You Love: Reflecting On The Past 2014

As any business owner will tell you, starting a business is filled with excitement, joy and hope. You are taking a leap of faith on what you're passionate about; is your newborn baby. But also as first time parents will admit, it comes with fears; Will I be good at it? What if I destroy my dream? What if it's too overwhelming? Will I burn out?

I started 2014 with all those thoughts. 2015 will be the 4th year my business as Fela Photography has been running, but it was 2014 that I consider the official run. Before 2014, Fela Photography was my job on the side, working full time and hoping that I would get enough clients to quit my day job and dip myself full time in Fela Photography; something I've been dreaming for too long. But being honest with myself, I wasn't putting the necessary elbow grease on it to make it happen, so obviously results were not showing much potential.

When I started my maternity leave in 2013, I knew I wanted to work from home so that I could be present in my son's life. It was something that was heavy in my heart. My son was the reason that made me put my self together and really start working on it so I decided that Fela Photography would have my deserved attention. It needed revamping though. Before, I was all over the place, grabbing any photography gig that would come my way and it was feeling kind of "blah". So with the guidance of Accelerator YYC I found my photography calling and that's when in 2014 the Reveal Your True Beauty project happened.

I felt vulnerable and scared at the beginning because Reveal Your True Beauty came from the heart and a personal experience. I had to pitch it to many people, many times and always with the fear that people would think it was a silly idea but I found support and encouragement which motivated me to keep going, even if it felt like I was running in circles. 

"I had to remind myself constantly that there is something beyond  money in the path I chose. There was the opportunity to help change women's lives, to impact positively in others, to use my skills/gift/talent for good".

When I was working my butt off (excuse my english) and didn't see much money coming in and a LOT leaving, I was worried and felt small and frustrated many times. I had to remind myself constantly that there is something beyond  money in the path I chose. There was the opportunity to help change women's lives, to impact positively in others, to use my skills/gift/talent for good. I had to remember the spark igniting in these ladies' eyes to motivate me; that's what kept me going. The ladies' words of joy where the cherry on top.

When I felt stuck, I would stop, reassess what I was doing, where was I failing, ask for feedback and try again. Tweaking here and there, changing this and that, Reveal Your True Beauty has become stronger in one year than in the 3 years I was playing business owner in lukewarm waters.

Founding My Happy Place:

Since I know my husband, he's been a spokesman about finding your happy place. His is a beach and he'll think of it on stressful times, picturing the breeze, the sun heat and the sound of waves and it does indeed make him happy and relaxed. But it didn't work for me. I couldn't picture anything that would bring me to that estate. I would say it was my home for the sake of saying something. 

However, reflecting on 2014 for the last couple of weeks I have finally found my happy place and is photographing women. It really is! I know every session we have will be fun, filled with laughs, new relationships and growth and as I go through the photos on my computer and work on them I find myself with a frozen smile and honestly happy to meet every single one of my clients and being able to bring joy into their lives as well. I daydream of the reveal appointments wondering how will they react when they see their photos and hoping it changes their lives for good. So it comes as no surprise that I find solace in my happy place when I feel down or stressed.

Jaimie, one of the wonderful ladies I photographed at the beginning of the year told me a week ago that her photo session with me is the only one she remembers having fun. It's so overwhelmingly beautiful how those words warm my heart! Comments like that feed my passion for what I do and help me to keep on walking.

"Jaimie, one of the wonderful ladies I photographed at the beginning of the year told me a week ago that her photo session with me is the only one she remembers having fun".

The Coming of 2015:


There has been a lot of work put into my business and there is still a lot of work to do as well, but my dreams are being unfolded in front of me in even better ways that I imagined, what a blessing! The scary leap of faith has become a wonderful adventure in which I have found freedom to be who I am (silly and all with my little happy jumps), met amazing people and help others, one person at a time.

Reveal Your True Beauty was born from the heart and it will continue to be that way. Each session is indeed a celebration of you and the great beauty of your soul as others and me see it. And it's catching on! Sessions are being booked all the way to April as we speak with ladies coming from in and out of Calgary to be photographed; such a humbling and beautiful thing.

A heartfelt thank you to those of you who have trust me to reveal to you your true beauty, to those of you who will trust me to reveal it and to those of you who join in the celebration. I hope you find your happy place too in loving what you do and who you are.

THANK YOU!