Women today are inundated with images of young, thin, perfectly proportioned representations of females who advertisers think we should want to look like. Starting as early as teens, we are encouraged to indulge ourselves in expensive anti-aging and beauty strategies and reconstructions of who we could be.

I began to notice the alarming rate with which my peers and women in general were looking to find body perfection and I was curious as to how women felt about aging in a society that keeps growing older closeted. If they had the opportunity, what would they change about themselves? Interestingly enough, I am shocked to admit how easily I succumbed to those promises of a "better me" served up by Madison Ave. and Hollywood. As a photographer, I needed to express these feelings through my photography.

Using humor and compassion, I began a project combining idealized concepts of unattainable beauty and everlasting youth, juxtaposed against reality, gravity and the passage of time. After collaborating with each woman on what the ideal "improvement” might look like, I created from advertisements body overlays, designed to conceal or change perceived imperfections. I then fit the “improvement” with a life-size overlay, which is either hand-held or taped, emphasizing the fact that the change always remains separate from the true self.

These photographs are a combination of women letting me into a secret part of their lives and then feeling confident enough to share it with the outside world. The project is expanding to include men, who are not immune to wanting to look and feel younger...especially in a competitive job market.