By JERRIANN SULLIVAN | ScaryMommy.com

Photo series gives women a reminder that ‘you don’t owe prettiness to anyone’

A New Jersey photographer reminds us that “you don’t owe prettiness to anyone” with a stunning photo series that’s going viral. In just a few days the series has been shared on Facebook 285,461 times and brought in more than 10,000 comments and 133,000 likes.

Jess Fielder photographed 17 women as part of her series titled “Project: Self Love.”Each gorgeous lady wore a black bathing suit and held up a sign with something another person “said to them in their lives about their bodies that impacted their self-confidence negatively,” the photographer shared on her Facebook page. “These women were willing to bare not just their bodies but a little bit of their hearts for this project,” Fielder said.

“No one will ever love you.”

The striking images are reminiscent of all the ridiculous beauty and body standards we put upon ourselves. They’re also a painful reminder of hurtful things we say to one another based on these unnecessary standards. The women’s willingness to share these comments is inspiring.

“Control what you eat.”

“If you lost a little weight you would be beautiful.”

Then she had each woman write down a fact about themselves that had nothing to do with their physicality. ” I loved the moment of seeing their faces and demeanors change when they held up the second card,” she explained. “They are all beautiful. Period. I hope that for at least those couple hours, they knew it to be true.”

I am positive.

I’m a Gramma.

I am more beautiful after baby.

We are more than your opinion of us. We are more than what you see. We are beautiful.