what is mindful photography?
This article originally featured in Cheshire Life magazine January 2024.
January owes its name to the Roman god Janus, the god of portals, doors, endings and beginnings. He has one face turned to the past and another looking towards the future. Hence this has become the month for making new year’s resolutions, leaving bad habits behind, and setting out with good intentions for the year ahead.
I suspect that, like me, your well-intentioned pledges fall by the wayside well before the month is over, in part because January is such a long and dreary month. I’ve come to believe that it is not a time to deprive ourselves of the little treats nor a time to do strenuous things that our bodies just aren’t used to. My yoga teacher tells us that the winter months are instead a time for rest, healing and self-care. I’ve found that concept extremely easy to embrace!
One of the ways to ease stress and worry is to practise mindfulness, to be present in the here and now. It encourages us to slow down, to stop and pay attention to what our senses are telling us. What can we observe in our surroundings, what can we hear, smell and feel? The crunch of snow under our feet, the warm fog of our breath, the faint warmth of the wintry sun on our faces and the spicy aroma of mulled wine (a guilty admission of what’s in my flask on winter dog walks!). We see the sun glinting off frosted lacy cobwebs, bare skeletal branches reaching into a leaden sky. We notice these details because we are present.
Photography is the perfect partner for mindfulness. Not the careless, throwaway snapshots nor posed and perfect selfies, but the images that capture genuine and often quite ordinary little moments, where you see something that is special and important to you. It doesn’t matter whether you are using your phone or a camera, what is key is that you noticed something that connected with you, enough to make you want to preserve the moment as a photograph.
This delicate pink blossom is a scented winter-flowering variety called Daphne and I photographed it in the gardens at Rode Hall. It caught my eye because it was one of the only plants in flower and when I looked through the lens of my camera, I loved the pretty circles of light in the background. This is called ‘bokeh’ and it occurs when you blur the background using Portrait Mode on a phone or a wide aperture on a camera. The picture is particularly special to me as my mum’s name was Daphne and we now have this shrub planted in our garden.
Mindful photography can be practised anywhere, you don’t need to wait until you visit somewhere interesting or picturesque. By slowing down you start to see how very ordinary things can be quite magical. It’s often the light that first catches your eye, dappled sunshine dancing on a wall, shadows stretching out along the ground. Don’t wait for good weather, capture reflections in puddles or raindrops on the window. But you have to be paying attention to see beautiful moments in the every day. If your eyes are glued to a screen or you are rushing along, you’ll miss them.
This little clump of snowdrops (also at Rode Hall) stopped me in my tracks, a flash of bright green and pure white in amongst the mud and fallen leaves. I’m always on the lookout for subjects that are backlit i.e., where the light is behind them, making the petals and blades of grass glow. The low winter sun is perfect for this, especially mid-afternoon when the light is warm and golden. It’s sparkling on the cobwebs and droplets of water on the ground, creating that beautiful bokeh again.
You’ll find that you’ll enjoy photography the most when you photograph what you love and are passionate about. It struck me that all the images I have chosen were taken outdoors and feature delicate flowers, birds, muted colours and are a little abstract.
Is there anything more mindful than bird watching? I’m sure I’m not the only person who gets bundled up in warm clothing and takes a hot brew out into the garden to see which birds are visiting today. Sitting, waiting, watching and then raising the camera to my eye to capture a cheeky, friendly robin.
When you find a subject that you are captivated by, ask yourself what is it that has really drawn you to it. I can almost feel the softness of this swan’s feathers and downy neck and I really like the contrasting flash of the black and orange beak against the white. I framed it quite tightly to emphasise those features.
You could be fooled into thinking I’m an ardent bird watcher, but I can’t tell a coot from a moor hen, or a sparrow from a dunnock. What I am obsessed with is light, colours, patterns, reflections, and how different elements come together to create an image that has mood, atmosphere and forms an emotional connection with the viewer.
I love the process of creating a photograph and find it very absorbing and literally lose myself in the moment, as I frame the subject and think about how to compose the shot. However, I know that for some people this is where the frustration sets in, they worry about which settings to use, what to include and what to exclude. Often there’s a fear of being judged and they can’t help but compare themselves to others and be found lacking.
Mindful photography should be free from worry and fear of failure. Keep it simple by using a phone and remember that you are shooting first and foremost for yourself. I always tell my students to never compare themselves to others, but only to themselves a month ago, a year ago. Otherwise, comparison really is the thief of joy.
This more abstract shot of fir tree branches with the bare tree trunks blurred out in the background is one of my favourite mindful images. It’s the textures and patterns, the cold, bright wintry light and the dream-like feel. Will everyone like it? It really doesn’t matter, as I didn’t photograph it to please anyone else. It reminds me of a lovely stroll through peaceful gardens, appreciating the beauty in the simplest of things. Now that’s mindful photography.
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