With the Camera as Meditation: A Journey in Mindful Photography

Mindful photography is incredibly liberating. This Monday was a busy day at work, there were several meetings plus a lot of computer work. I felt quite drained when I left for home. Fortunately, the evenings are getting brighter, and as soon as I got home, I took the dogs out. They had been lying inside all day and needed some air. I needed it too, feeling tired in both mind and body and mostly just wanted to sleep.

Take it Slow

It was the usual walk, but now I stopped and took it slow. And that’s part of what I write about. Taking it slow. It’s included in Mindful Photography. The slowness. Stopping. Actually stopping completely, and looking, listening, and sensing everything around me. So that’s what I did now as well, I stopped at a small hill with trees reaching up towards the sky.

Grounding

Here I stood for a long time, just looking and breathing and feeling the air going in and out of my lungs. Here I felt my feet and sensed that they were on the ice-covered road, but I stood firm, and I felt the earth supporting me. Sensing in this way with my senses is called grounding. It’s about being present where you are right now and being conscious that you are indeed where you are. So, I stood here on the forest road and became aware of the contact between me and the earth, nature, and the landscape. Eventually, I took the picture above. It’s not edited, straight from the phone.

Seeing Both Inwardly and Outwardly

By slowing down, walking slower, stopping, feeling the breath, using the senses, I see both inwardly and outwardly. I look inside and feel calmer, I feel the whirlwind of thoughts and tiredness in the brain after some challenging hours at work settling down. I feel a relief inside. A liberation from having to perform. Here I can stand and just feel, look inward and outward, and I can take exactly the picture that comes to me right there and then.

When I walked home again, I seemed to breathe easier, I felt encouraged and a lightness in soul and mind settled in. Then my gaze caught some branches against the sky. And I had to stop again and capture these branches, the picture I took symbolizes for me lightness, simplicity, kindness, gratitude, and absolutely not stress and performance.

As I have described from my own experienced event here, we can thus reduce stress, dampen the tiredness we can feel, and experience being relieved and encouraged.

The Mindful Photographer

For those intrigued by the themes discussed here and eager to delve deeper, I wholeheartedly recommend the book The mindful photographer. This book was a revelation for me, illuminating the transformative power of Mindful Photography to alter one’s viewpoint, much like the insights shared in this article.