Tammy David, a freelance photographer from the Philippines, admits she is a ”person of size” and, after putting on weight during a holiday in the United States in 2008, became interested in what is known as the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) in that country.

“I came across the term fat acceptance and was very intrigued by it. I read blogs about the subject and found myself lost in the "fatosphere",” says Tammy.

So, the 27-year-old from Makati City decided to embark on a project photographing people who might normally be reluctant to have their pictures taken because of their build. Her gallery here is the result.

“I was lucky I was already in the United States, in California, where there is a large community of fat acceptance advocates. A week after contacting some of them, I was attending a monthly meeting.

I spent a total of two weeks interacting and photographing my subjects. Most are from the Bay Area chapter of NAAFA - I hitched a ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles for the association’s annual convention with one of the members (Nancy),” says Tammy, who used her Canon EOS 30D camera with a Sigma 17-70 lens and natural light.

“For some photographs, like the ones taken inside the ladies’ locker room, I was just honest enough to tell them that it was my first time seeing bodies of that type up-close and stark naked. I politely asked if I could take pictures and gave them the option not to show their faces. It was funny, some didn't mind because they hated it whenever news reports on fatness featured stock footage of headless large people in public.

Most NAAFA members are overweight or what the media describes as "morbidly obese", a medical term for fat people which is unacceptable for many,” continues Tammy.

“The only time I had to persuade them to let me take their photos was when they had a ball during their convention and they didn't want to be photographed while merrymaking. One told me there was an incident when their photos of eating and dancing were seen on hate websites.

I consider this a long term project. I plan to photograph each member individually in their own space and see what they are like outside the support group.

I would like to go further and show that these people have normal lives and feelings, like the actress or model who is a size zero.”