Paula's Favourite Photo (of Paula!)

Hi Stana,

You recently put out an appeal for favourite photos. I feel a bit of a fraud since I sent you a photo a last year. That was the one with my trombone taken as an ad for a concert I was playing with the London Gay Symphony Orchestra. Since then a lot of water has flowed under the bridge and my life has changed in all sorts of ways. Not least that I am now living authentically full-time.

Earlier this year my Friend Vanessa Lees (http://www.vlfmp.tumblr.com) put together a photographic exhibition of portraits of trans people going about their normal day-to-day lives; a welcome change from the usual overly glamorous or sexualized images we so often see.

As one of her subjects, I was invited to the first night, maybe not quite a red carpet affair, but nonetheless, great fun. During the course of the photo sessions, Vanessa and I became better and better friends. She expressed this very generously by letting me have a pair of earrings she had made and a dress she had bought for herself, but had no occasion to wear.

Attending the exhibition I knew I wanted to present myself well. I also wanted to make a big thank you to Vanessa for all she was doing. I could think of no better way of thanking her than by wearing the dress and earrings she had given me. The photo shows me with one of the photos of me at the exhibition on that first night. It is a wonderful memory of a great evening, it was also one of those rare occasions when my whole look came out just how I wanted. I felt like a star, my self-confidence came together and frankly, I haven’t looked back since!

Keep up the good work, it is a very big commitment to keep getting out a daily blog, especially of complexity of Emulate.

Many thanks,

Paula

Calling all girls! My open invitation to post your favorite photo along with the story behind it and the reason it is your favorite photo still stands, so don't be shy, send me your fave foto. ― Stana

Wearing Dolce & Gabbana.

Marty at a New Year's Eve ball in Brooklyn, NY, 1974.