The Glow
Stories about skin, hair and confidence: the photos untagged, the mirrors avoided, and the slow, real change that made someone comfortable being seen again.
“I untag every photo and I'm tired of hiding.”
The series, in order
The photo I didn't untag
For six years she was the friend holding the camera, never the one in the picture. What she tried, what she checked before she bought anything, and the group photo she finally let stay up.
The Sunday photos that all looked the same
Every Sunday at eight she stood on the same creaky floorboard and photographed her face, and for seven weeks the only thing that changed was the plant behind her. The night she almost deleted the note, and the side-by-side she should have tried first.
Camera on
For two years her hospital's Tuesday video huddle saw her as her badge photo, taken at twenty-nine. Then a new pharmacist came down to the basement looking for her and walked right past her.
Clearing the shelf
On a Saturday in January she sat on the bathroom floor with a trash bag and pulled the serums off the shelf the way she pulls expired stock at work. Her sister supervised by video, and claimed the jade roller for her son.
More from The Glow
Camera off, "bad connection": a video-call survival story
For two years she blamed the Wi-Fi every time someone asked her to turn her camera on. Then IT mailed her a brand-new router, and the excuse ran out before she was ready.
I was always the one holding the camera
He filmed every recital, soccer game and birthday for nine years. When his daughter needed a photo of the two of them for school, the only one they could find was his reflection in a sliding glass door.
My part was getting wider and nobody else noticed
She measured the part in her hair with her son's plastic ruler every morning for a year. Then the doorbell camera caught her from above, carrying in groceries, and she finally saw what she'd been measuring.
The bathroom lighting I rearranged my whole life around
For four years she brushed her teeth in the dark and kept two light bulbs wrapped in a dish towel. Then the landlord replaced her bathroom fixture while she was at work.
The dating profile with only group photos
Every picture on his dating profile had at least four other people in it, and he was never the one in front. Then a match asked which one he was, and hopefully guessed his best friend.