Story highlights Kate Parker is the photographer and mother behind "Strong is the New Pretty"

The photo series shows her messy, wild daughters as they are, Parker said

(CNN) The night before her daughter's first triathlon, Kate Parker could tell the child was nervous.

Ella and her younger sister, Alice, are athletic, loud, curious, wild-haired kids. They grew up watching their mother compete in races and Ella had asked to sign up for her own. Still, as they laid out everything she'd need the next day, Parker, a photographer, could tell she was afraid.

"Why don't we get a picture?" Parker asked Ella, now 9. "Show me your strongest face, show me your bravest face, even if you don't feel that way right now."

As she pulled the image up on her screen, she got chills from her daughter's direct stare. She looked, Parker said, like "a little badass."

"You're going to be totally fine," Parker showed her. "Look at how tough you are."

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