Girl to Man: time lapse shows teenager’s three-year transgender transformation

21-year-old Jamie Raines of Essex, England never felt quite comfortable being in a girl’s body, so just before his 18^th birthday he started taking testosterone as part of a gender transition.

Over the course of more than three years, Jamie documented the transformation his body underwent by taking a photo a day. The 1,400 photos were recently compiled into a time lapse video showing the dramatic change from female to male appearance.

Explaining to DIYP why he created the video, Jamie said: “I decided to make it because I wanted something to document my transition, concentrating on facial changes, and also I was really into photography at the time, so the two came together”.

Initially Jamie intended to create a time lapse of the first year on testosterone, but decide to keep going as he didn’t get any facial hair by that stage. “I’m really glad I did”, he added.

“I didn’t like looking in the mirror before I started on testosterone [also referred to a “T”]. Now I’m happy with what I see,” Jamie told Bored Panda.

I imagine most people in Jamie’s situation choose to keep their feelings and transition a private matter, but Jaime decided to share his process in hope of raising awareness and helping others in a similar situation.

“I’ve had an overwhelming amount of positive responses!” he says about the feedback he received after posting the video. “I know there are some negative ones out there, but wherever I’ve been contacted personally (such as one Facebook or Tumblr), they’ve all been very positive and supportive”.

Jamie added that the amount of attention the video has gotten has been a huge surprise for him, his family and his friends, “But as long as I am happy with sharing this part of my life, they are supportive of that”.

With the time lapse video receiving over 6 million views in just three days, Jamie is definitely succeeding in raising awareness and reaching people.

Although this video is very nicely edited, and while it is by no means the most impressive or innovative one out there, it’s great to see a time lapse created for more than the artistic purpose of for the sake of showing off a technique. I think this is a perfect example of how time lapse can be used to educate and demonstrate a process that would be rather hard to imagine, or believe, otherwise.

 

Those interested in learning more about Jamie’s transition should look out for a documentary called ‘Girls to Men’ which “follows three young Brits going through extraordinary transformations to fulfill their dream of becoming men” and is due to air on October 13^th on UK’s Channel 4, and in the US at a later date.

If you’d like to catch up on Jamie’s previous posts or keep updated with his progress, you can follow him on YouTube or Tumblr.

[via Bored Panda]