Taking photos is fun – whether they’re posed friends-and-family shots, landscapes or action scenes. Sometimes, though, it’s easy to become distracted by that inner voice, the one that tells you the lighting’s all wrong, the subject matter isn’t anything special and you’re wasting your time.
If this sounds familiar, you might find it helpful to learn more about being present and connecting with what’s in front of you, right here, right now.
You could think of this moment-to-moment awareness as mindfulness in practice. American Jon Kabat-Zinn, who’s an expert in stress reduction, relaxation and meditation, says that this relies on seven attitudes: non-judging, patience, a beginner’s mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance and letting go. And all of these can be applied to photography.
What’s important, though, is to remember that mindfulness is about being fully awake and alive in the present moment. It’s also about the process rather than the end product. While it might lead to heightened visual awareness, improved concentration and more rewarding photography, perhaps most interestingly, it can help you to stop looking and start seeing.
Seven steps to improving your photography
Non-judging
By acknowledging your thoughts and emotions without judging them, you can take a step back and learn to simply observe your inner critic as it talks, leaving more headspace for creativity.
Patience
Be kind to yourself when you’re frustrated by your inability to stop negative thoughts and feelings. This can help you become steadier and less restless, improving your ability to see.
Beginner’s mind
This third attitude encourages you to see the world as if for the first time. Take, for example, a toy train. You’ll see it and might think: ‘This is a toy. This is a train. People travel in trains to get from A to B.’ But think back to when you were a toddler and didn’t have this understanding or knowledge. You’d have seen it more as a set of shapes, colours and textures. This approach can lead to more creative images.
Trust
Sometimes, you can rely too heavily on outside sources for guidance. For example, you find an amazing photograph in a book or online and try to recreate it literally; you take a picture you like, but then notice it doesn’t meet the rules for a so-called perfectly composed image, so you delete it. By learning to trust your own instincts you stand a better chance of developing an artistic style that’s unique to you.
Non-striving
This is perhaps the hardest attitude to maintain. When you begin a task you almost always have a result in mind: you cycle to a shop to buy a birthday card, you mix fruit together in a blender to make a healthy drink, you visit a park to take photographs. By placing too much emphasis on obtaining the perfect picture you can spend most of your time living in the future, when being in the present might bring more fulfilling rewards.
Acceptance
When standing in a park or sitting on a beach by the sea, there’s an opportunity to accept the view exactly as it is, without trying to change it in any way. If you just observe the scene, you are fully present, seeing the world clearly, not through a filter of ideas and opinions.
Letting go
By releasing your grip on thoughts and emotions you can reduce their power over you. Some of the hardest thoughts to release are those that give you pleasure. As you look at a picture you’ve taken, you might say to yourself: ‘This is a great photograph, I can’t wait to post it online. I might even enter a competition.’ In this way, you lose touch with your immediate surroundings and affect your ability to see clearly.