The Art of Noticing: Mindful Photography
Ayup! For many photographers, their hobby, passion and purpose isn't just about capturing images. It's a vital part of their overall well-being and cognitive maintenance. A practice that ultimately boosts your mental health. How? Via the power of noticing. Photography folks are fully immersed and aware of their surroundings, AKA, mindfulness.
Often without even realising it, we're basking in the calming warmth of an ancient healing tradition. Albeit, slightly differently. At the core, however, focus, awareness and presence are all we need to get started. Something that, I'm sure you'll agree, most photographers posses. As a result, the mind is rewarded with a plethora of feelgood benefits.
Research has shown that MBIs (mindfulness-based interventions) have significant health benefits including decreased stress, insomnia, anxiety, and panic, along with enhancing personal well-being, perceptual sensitivity, processing speed, empathy, concentration, reaction time, motor skills, and cognitive performance including short and long-term memory recall and academic performance.
See More. Notice More.
Photographers slowly and methodically train themselves in the art of noticing, and therefore mindfulness. A heightened sense of awareness is essential if you want to capture unique images. You will eventually see things that others don't. It's incredibly powerful when you think about it.
Have you ever been out with your camera alongside non-photography friends or family? Did they by any chance look at you gone out as you try and capture a photo of a crack in a wall? That's the compelling difference in how photographers interact with their surroundings. We notice things. No matter how small or seemingly insignificant.
As mindfulness can be practiced in many different ways for many different uses, it is a perfect tool for any practitioner’s toolbox.
Mindful Photography
The best thing about using your creative hobby as mindfulness practice is that you don't have to put any effort in. It just happens, regardless of your intentions or desired outcomes. For many, this is where the real magic lies. It can be difficult to stick to a meditation or mindfulness practice, but when it derives from doing something you love, it's easy.
It's hard to argue with, or ignore, the rewards and benefits that mindfulness brings to the table:
Reduced stress
Reduced anxiety
Improved focus
Improved concentration
Feeling calmer
Better coping with difficult thoughts
Improved self-awareness
Improved presence
Lower heart rate
Prime Mind
Something that propelled the mindfulness aspect of my own photography practice was committing to a prime lens. Somehow, by removing the option to zoom in and out (other than with your feet), it forces you to focus even more than you usually would.
All of a sudden, you’ve got to think differently about how you're going to capture each shot. This leads to further immersion and awareness of your surroundings. Seeing and noticing what's around you takes on a whole new meaning.
For an overactive zoom user, primes lenses are perfect for a more mindful photography experience, allowing your true creative vision to come through.
Notice Noticing
This isn't a post on how to notice. As a photographer, you already know how to do that. Instead, it serves a reminder to step back and consider how good you've become at it.
While the general population rush about their day, staring at their phones or focussed on a single vantage point, photographers are doing the complete opposite. Seeing, noticing and absorbing, while remaining fully present and mindful. What's above you? Behind? To the left and right? Let's take a closer look at this beautiful texture or pattern.
Look more, see more, and enjoy the mindful benefits of truly noticing.
