Mindful Photography in Four Thoughts

“Mindful photography is using our sight and a camera as an anchor to help us become more consciously aware of the present moment. It is experiencing the process of creating photographs in a non-judgmental, compassionate way.”

Ruth Davey, 2017

Being mindful on the Cow and Calf Rocks

My first thought about mindful photography was that it’s great – both doing it and the way it improves my wellbeing – but I don’t like the name. It’s the ‘mindful’ bit – my mind is always full, but not always with the good stuff!! So I thought the problem was simply one of semantics, and easily resolved by changing the name to wellbeing photography, or nurturing photography, maybe free-flowing photography. Job done. Time to get back to doing it.

Then, a few months later, I had a second thought – well, more of a question really – when I was thinking about my ‘mindful’ practice. Was I actually doing the mindful bit? Was I mistaking my habit of ‘relaxing walks with the camera in a leafy environment’ with the deeper experience of being mindful? So, I went back to basics, back to Ruth Davey who introduced me to mindfulness through her 'Look Again' website [ HERE … ]. I re-read her definition (above) and her advice on preparing to start each activity and to create each photograph, her advice about slowing down, breathing, reflecting, taking time to “look and look again”.

Oops.

The style of photography I was doing on my camera-walks encouraged positivity, awareness and childlike curiosity but it was not really mindful because, I think, the notion of being on a walk created an almost subliminal undercurrent of ‘getting on’. Subconsciously I was being propelled (gently but insistently) towards a physical destination. And filled with a sense of photographic purpose, too; placing undue emphasis on ‘photography’ and not enough on ‘mindful’; taking more and more images to prove how mindful I was being; seeking the next subject almost before I’d pressed the shutter on the one in hand. So, my third thought was about recognising this; understanding that my issue with mindful photography runs deeper than the words I use – it was one of process and personality too.

But then, if you fast forward to last week, to the day when we walked a (very short) section of the Nidderdale Greenway at Ripley, you can see a fourth thought – a solution – starting to develop.

A Hint of Bluebells

My catalogue of photographs shows that I set off in my usual ‘camera-walk’ way – starting with one of the signpost to the cycle-trail, then several of the path and the river, more of trees and flowers etc. But we reached a small bridge after about 30 minutes (it crossed a stream that feeds into the Nidd) and the ‘snapping’ tempo changed magically – dare I say mindfully? Can you see us in your mind’s eye as we paused to ‘stand and stare’ for about 15 minutes, noticing the bluebells and white cornflowers, hearing the stream and the river and, importantly, with me taking fewer photographs? And I retained this slower rhythm as we walked back to the car, more mindful, more relaxed, more at ease.

So, my fourth thought is this – that my photographic process can be likened to the old days when I was playing hockey and cricket. The ‘relaxing walk with the camera in a leafy environment’ equates to the pre-match warm-up, providing me in both cases with fresh air, exercise and ‘green-ness.’ And the camera also plays an important part in the warm-up too; without it I can walk around on autopilot, so that the problems which overwhelm my mind indoors remain the problems which overwhelm my mind outdoors; but with it, I’m absorbed and engaged in the environment around me, filled with child-like curiosity. I’m minded of my mother when her grandchildren were small – the way she could defuse a brewing tantrum with ease, with experience. And I think that my camera has inherited that skill set from her, because it has the capability to calm and soothe me, distract me from the ‘tantrum’ of my indoor-problems, replace them with outdoor-wonderment and enable me to be more mindful. It ensures I’m fully warmed-up and ready for my match – for my mindful photography match – able to ‘stand and stare’ as we did on the Nidderdale Greenway, “more consciously aware of the present moment” as Ruth fittingly explains.

I know there are a lot of techniques which enable people to ease themselves into mindfulness, but I find them stressful because any attempts to empty my mind only seem to fill it with worries – perhaps Aristotle was thinking ahead to me when he postulated that ‘nature abhors a vacuum’. But now I've made my warm-up routine of a ‘relaxing walk with the camera in a leafy environment’ into an explicit practice, my subsequent photography really has become more mindful. And, with it I’m gaining all the benefits to my wellbeing and resilience.

So, I've got there at last – to Mindful Photography in Four Thoughts.

Stay safe xx