People Magazine "Half Their Size" Issue

Mar 11

One thing that I love about my job is that I get to be around so many inspiring people. Back in December I worked on a photoshoot for People Magazine. It was the Half Their Size Issue. I was able to work with Kaitlyn Smith. In high school Kaitlyn weighed 414 lbs. She was bitter, miserable, and in her own words felt so worthless. With the help of her mom she made a huge life decision. She began to change her eating habits and hit the gym 6 days a week. Through her dedication and hard work she naturally lost 208 lbs in 15 months.

But losing the weight brought on its own challenges. Kaitlyns body was left with loose, hanging skin that made her self-conscious, rubbed her raw and eventually got infected. The story of Kaitlyn's amazing weight loss journey was first published in PEOPLE's Half Their Size issue last year. Miami-based plastic surgeon Michael Salzhauer (known as Dr. Miami) read about her progress and offered to donate his services to help Kaitlyn shape her new body. In the past seven months he removed loose skin from her stomach, chest, back, hips, arms and legs in three separate procedures.

This shoot was to document the amazing progress Kaitlyn has made since featuring her in People magazine last year. The day of the shoot Kaitlyn had just gotten back to Nashville minutes before the shoot. She had flown back on a red eye flight from LA becuase she had just appeared on a talk show the day before.

Instead of being tired and grumpy from travel she was the biggest sweetheart you would ever want to meet. Her mom,boyfriend and sister(the birthday girl) spent the morning with us also to show their support. She is truly one of those people that proves- if you take small steps toward your goal each day you can truly change your entire life around.