So I recently wrote a post all about how I, Cosplay Mom, needed to learn to take better photos of Cosplay daughter.

Now I think that’s incorrect. I just need to let her take photos of herself.

I see pretty frequent, critical, dismissive and condescending diatribes against girls who post  photos on Instagram. And a lot of these criticisms have to do with the fact that viewers are apparently unhappy that the photos of the women are not what they “really look like.”

But my reaction is….. AND?

So….viewers don’t like that there are photos on the internet that represent only part of the story? Or just one moment in time?

Are they aware of how photography works?

If there are photos of Baltimore after the riots, should we complain that “Baltimore doesn’t REALLY look like that?”  When we look at wedding photos, should we complain to the happy couple, “well, of course you don’t REALLY look like that”?

It’s such a strange criticism. What person EVER looks like a photo taken of them all the time?

As a gender scholar, it makes me wonder if there is not some expectation that women will be inanimate dolls, or at least David Lee Roth’s “Perfect woman”

and it makes me think, again, of this great Cracked article  about how modern men are trained to hate women- a piece that seems more true to me all the time.

But back to cosplay daughter’s photos on Instagram.

Now I knew she had an Instagram account. It’s not like she kept it a secret.

Once again, I am a bad Mom for not having checked it out sooner- but my failure isn’t as a Mom generally, it’s really more of a cosplay parent fail.

In my defense, though, I’m OLD.  I sometimes have a hard time keeping up with all the web presence: I know she has abandoned Facebook, and I’m following her on Tumblr, but I hadn’t made it over to Instagram yet.

So I did this week and….WOW.

Not bad wow, no inappropriate nonsense, just wow, I can’t believe I hadn’t seen these photos yet!

Great pictures and views of cosplays that I HADN’T EVEN SEEN.

Turns out she takes photos of herself, and even photos of “costests” before leaving her room.

(When I expressed shock: “Geez, Mom, I posted them on Instagram” *teenage eye roll*)

So- does she look like this all the time?

Of. course. not.

Is this a great look at her artistic skill, costuming and cosmetics ability?

Clearly. Yessir.

And I love it!

So without further ado, some of my favorites.

First, Elizabeth and L (who I’ve seen before):

But wait! There’s more! If you’re playing along at home, you’ll know she’s a newly minted Browncoat.  Here’s her “costest” of Kaylee Frye from Firefly

and……Faun makeup. Don’t know that this is a character. Seems to have been more of an experiment with cosmetics

and finally, a series of what she terms “Girly Anime”

More power to cosplay daughter- and to all the young ladies (and men) exploring identity creatively and positively.