I came across something unexpected today.

An old access card from my PhD days at NICTA, around 14 years ago.

Back then, that little card was my key into my office where I spent countless hours doing research.

But when I looked at it today, something else caught my eye.

I had covered my ID photo with a little cat sticker.
Not because I loved cats (although I do now), but because I didn’t like how I looked. I was so camera shy and so uncomfortable seeing myself in photographs that I would rather hide my own face than look at it.

It’s funny how life works.

Years later, I became a portrait photographer.

Every day, I meet people who tell me:
“I’m not photogenic.”
“I hate having my photo taken.”
“Can you make me look better?”

I understand those words because I used to say them to myself.

Looking back, I wish I had been kinder to the younger version of me. I wish I had realised that a photograph doesn’t need perfection. It doesn’t need flawless skin, the perfect angle, or a magazine-worthy smile.

It simply needs honesty.

Today, I don’t photograph people to make them look like someone else.

I photograph them so they can see themselves with a little more compassion than they usually do.

That old access card reminds me that photography isn’t just about preserving how we looked.

Sometimes, it’s about helping us remember how far we’ve come.

To the younger me who hid behind a cat sticker—you had no idea that one day you’d spend your life helping others feel seen.

And perhaps, through that journey, you’d finally learn to see yourself too.

Ta,

Jindi