Photography and mindfulness
Photography, as a hobby or a lifestyle, is not just a form of expression but a healing art and a tool for personal growth, offering a unique way to navigate the complexities of emotions and experiences. It can be seen almost as a visual meditation — a practice that extends beyond the captured image.
A non-verbal outlet for expressing yourself
Photography, with its ability to promote mindfulness, expressiveness and self-exploration, stands out as a unique and accessible therapeutic endeavour. Numerous studies highlight the therapeutic benefits. From art therapy programs to stress reduction, the medium has proven effective in treating conditions such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD. The act of creating visual narratives can allow you to process emotions and experiences in a supportive and constructive way.
As a visual language, it provides a unique channel for expressing emotions that might be difficult to articulate in words. Making images can serve as a positive release, allowing you to externalise and make sense of your innermost feelings. Photography allows you to express yourself in a non-verbal manner. For those who find it challenging to articulate their emotions, photography becomes a medium for conveying feelings, experiences, and narratives that might be difficult to put into words.
Photography is often all about reacting to situations with the camera. You can use it as a tool for mindful reflection, allowing you to navigate complex emotions, find solace, and make sense of the twists and turns on your path. The best and the most meaningful photographs are made when you act on instinct and take the photo based on your intuition, even though you might not have a full understanding why exactly are you compelled to take the photo in the first place. People can always sense when photo is staged of planned, in other words: fake. Authenticity and candidness brings substance to the image and it will serve you better as well, not just the audience.
When you’re out and about with your camera, you may encounter a hunch, some kind of inner voice telling you to fire the shutter. Do it without trying to rationalise it first. There is probably something in the scene that speaks to you. The point is not to figure it out right away. Time for rationalisation and analysis comes later.
More often than not, the hidden symbolism that drew you in, will reveal itself only afterwards in a body of work put together during a longer period of time, much like in dream analysis. Usually a pattern emerges eventually and from a series of images, it becomes rather evident what the actual subject matters behind the images are (again, much like in dream analysis). Photography has the power to weave visual narratives, stories that unfold not only in the external world but also within the photographer's subconscious. What are the reoccurring themes in your photographs? Maybe you realise that you have a tendency towards photographing a certain theme like withering flowers for example. Why? Maybe you’re trying to communicate or express something with it’s symbolism. Always just take the photo, think later.
The meaning of a photograph usually changes over time or it can reveal itself altogether only after some time being passed. Distancing yourself from your photos, can enable you to see much clearer view what you were trying to communicate, when you look back at it. This is just the nature of it, which is why it’s important to keep archives and not to discard your works, even if you don’t initially see anything in them. Returning to them later can give you a clearer view of who you were back then. You might even see a new value in them, even if you didn’t think much of them during the time.
Put images together to see the bigger picture
Many photographers tend to approach the craft as projects, not just taking singular stand-alone images. Think yourself as a musician who wants to put out a coherent album (or a strong discography for that matter) instead of isolated songs. A series of songs can be put together to form an album that has an entire concept, a consistent artistic thread behind it, giving it stronger substance and wholeness. A photo project has a similar effect. This is why I don’t actually always see Instagram being a good platform for photography, because you tend to focus on posting singular images that people will experience one at a time, in between any other post in their feed. As an experience, it is very different compared to browsing though a photo book, gallery exhibition or anything else carefully curated. This is perhaps the biggest reason why I’m running a website in addition to social media. I want there to be at least some other platform for my images, preferably one that allows me to divide and arrange the images into their own respective galleries where you can really see what they actually convey when viewed together as a grouped series of images. I don’t think I’ll be running gallery shows or publishing photo books any time soon I’m afraid, but a website gallery is a great budget option while waiting for those things to happen.
During the past couple of years or so, I’ve personally really embraced this mentality. Last summer I was undergoing a lot of stress of external things, while trying to focus on personal growth and my inner world at the same time. As a result, a new project called “I see an image sleeping in a stone“ emerged. (The title is a quoted line from Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra.) There are many photos in the series, that aren’t exactly the most exciting thing to behold as a stand-alone images, but they serve a role in the bigger picture. That is to say, some images are not perhaps strong “instagrammable“ photos, but they complement the totality of the project. While I was working on this project, there were certain places I was strongly drawn to. The camera strap simple pulled me there. The intuition was that strong and I didn’t want to question it. I really wanted to respect the inner voice and follow it.
Photography offers more than just a snapshot of a singular moment. With this kind of philosophy behind the approach, it becomes a mirror reflecting our self-identity the journey through life's challenges and our inner world. The subjects we choose to photograph, the aesthetics that we are drawn to; monochromatic, colourful, grainy, polished, high-key (bright), low-key (dark), the angles we select, the perspective we take and the themes we explore, all reflect aspects of our identity. Through the lens, you can embark on a journey of self-discovery, gaining insights into your preferences, values, and perceptions. This exploration can be a powerful tool for building self-esteem and fostering a positive sense of self.
