Solitude is my closest friend. Being alone is one of my favorite things to do. You become comfortable with the company of yourself, and you finally learn to accept your flaws, your imperfections, and the things that make you outstanding. You don’t become some type of recluse who can’t stand the light of day, you become a girl who loves curling up in her sheets on a lazy Sunday afternoon. You become a girl who adores the smell of roses and loves the taste of freedom. You become somebody who has learned to cry, to scream, to express emotion. You learn to be comfortable with yourself inside and out. You learn about the way your collarbones look and the way your fingers curl. You learn about your lips and the raspberry tint they portray when you’re tired. You learn about your eyes and how they turn icy blue when you cry. You learn to fall in love, not to a significant other, but to the way your skin looks in the sunlight. You learn about your rib cage and how it feels when bath water runs over its curves. You learn about your eye shape and one of the most important things in your mortal lifespan; you learn to take the things about yourself that you’ve noticed and see them on other people. You notice the way his eyes radiate the sun, and you notice how his lips are always ruby red. You notice his skin and how he blushes and that it resembles gardens of roses and tulips. You notice his fingertips and what they feel like against your skin; like fire and ice and sunlight. So when you met him after those years of being alone, that’s what you learned to fall in love with. Not him and not the way the sunlight looked on your skin, but how it felt when he touched your skin…like sunlight.

Amanda Mabel is a fashion and portrait photographer living in Sydney, Australia. Originally from Singapore, she moved to Perth in 2011, then Sydney in 2012. She is currently studying a Bachelor of Arts (Advanced) (Honours) at the University of Sydney. In her free time, she loves taking photographs, travelling to beautiful places, and drinking tea. She also happens to blog for Vogue Australia Spy Style. She maintains a website at www.amandamabel.com and can be found on:  Instagram  Facebook  LinkedIn  Pinterest  Tumblr  Bloglovin Flickr.