Insecure? You're Not Alone. These Poignant Photos Prove It.

“I think my biggest flaw is my insecurity,” Madonna once said. And as hard as that is to believe, it’s not at all difficult to relate to, which is why the photos of Steve Rosenfield’s “What I Be Project” land like punches (albeit pretty ones) to the gut. In his ongoing series, the California photographer shoots portraits of men and women across the country who agree to be marked with a word or phrase — “Ugly,” “Diseased,” “I'm a Loser” — revealing their deepest insecurities. “We’re all going through stuff, and we all want to share our story,” Rosenfield, 38, tells Yahoo Shine about the honesty of his nearly 1,100 subjects so far. “We always think it’s not okay to share our flaws, so I think it’s helpful to be able to in this type of environment.” — Beth Greenfield