Once a week or so, usually over dinner, we “do gratitudes”. I got the idea from positive psychologist advocate Shawn Achor some years ago: simply list three things from that day for which you’re grateful.
It’s easy to whinge: we can reel off our disappointments, complaints and regrets without difficulty, and we do so regularly. But thinking about the positive things we’ve encountered during the day can be hard.
By changing our focus, the aim is to change our perspective on the same reality, highlighting the good moments we’ve had, or even finding something useful or fulfilling in an experience which we’d otherwise label as entirely negative. It can turn things around, and indeed Shawn recommends doing it especially when you’ve had an awful day, when you just want to be angry, flat or tired.
Things are awful at the moment for so many people. It can be almost impossible to see very much to be grateful for in an otherwise largely bleak situation. It occurred to me that for the past several months, I’ve hardly taken a single photo for myself. And this can’t be a coincidence.
Normally, I take pictures all the time - or, at least, I go through regular phases. But I’ve barely noticed anything since March, or not cared enough to shoot it when I have seen something.
Of the shots I would normally take, I only keep a small number. And only a few of these I upload to my Instagram (look for the weird abstract ones, sitting amongst the portraits and other commissioned work). As I say, I don’t show all of them: most just aren’t very good. I take them for the pleasure of the moment, and then forget about them. I put the ‘best’ ones on Instagram*. I enjoy it.
I think my lack of interest of late is uncharacteristic, and it means I’m disengaged.
When I’m feeling engaged, I’m able - with an easy change in attention as I go about my day - to look for these details, lines, shapes, reflections, and tones. Looking - really looking - is an exercise in itself, even without taking a photo. And this type of (usually abstract) photography is precisely not about having interesting subject matter, or models, or lighting, or storytelling. No schedule or deadline. It’s simply playing with the language of photography, devoid of context, at one’s own leisure. So, a mix of colours here. A hard shadow there. As I’ve said elsewhere, it’s often about physical objects as purely visual objects. Matter plus light.
These elements are literally everywhere, and we all have cameras. It’s about appreciating the world around, if not as something beautiful, at least as something visual. I think that taking pictures for ourselves - with no audience in mind, and no other purpose than simple pleasure - is another way to express gratitudes. It’s the photographic equivalent of listing what we’re grateful for, what we see. To express them, visually.
It’s quiet at the moment, but I’ll be allowing myself some time off this week to go and take some photos for myself. After yesterday’s World Mental Health Day, and with possible further isolation likely, my small suggestion is that you could try the same.
Ceiling corner.
I’ve covered my general approach in older blog posts, but otherwise, to get you started, here’s how to do it:
Allow yourself 30 minutes’ shooting time.
Choose two of (say) the following: colour, shape, pattern, shadow, detail. Your location and the weather will help determine which. So if it’s cloudy, you’d have to work hard / get lucky to get images which are about shadow, as in the image above of the ceiling corner. If you’re near an outdoor market, then looking for details (ie close-ups) should yield some good results. If you’re in the countryside, photos about colour might be limited to flowers.
How do you know what to look for? Whatever catches your eye. By definition, it has moved you. And so it follows there may be something in it. You know when you see it. It’s about learning how to really pay attention to how things actually appear, how things are devoid of their function and context, and our own assumptions. Here’s the relevant link again in case you missed it before.
There are often photos to be had with graffiti (and the work’s 95% done for you). Picking an interesting part of the artwork and taking it out of context is the necessary step.
If you’re struggling to see anything interesting, remember there are often ‘fallback’ images to look for. Close ups of fruit. Reflections in puddles. The symmetry of flowers, shot from just above.
If you’re still struggling, limit yourself further. Just look for things that are red. Or diagonal lines. Or graffiti.
Once you’ve found a subject, then it’s onto problem solving. A quick snap won’t do it - you have to capture the essence of the thing you noticed.
How? That’s the question. But start by working around the subject. Get low, high, close, far. Change the composition, or what elements are in the frame. Find the most direct way to show what you’re seeing: it should feel like work, and challenge you. It’s a process, not a single event. And to shortcut this process, keep in mind that very often, less is more with this kind of photography. Which tends to mean getting close, taking elements out their context. Actually, if you are using a phone, it has quite a wide angle of view. So you’ll likely need to get in close anyway, to remove distractions from the edges of the frame.
With abstract photography, it’s irritating when we try to guess what something is. It misses the point. However, with these sorts of shots, I often think in terms of what something looks like, and that shapes my approach.
Take at least three or four shots per situation, and allow yourself no more than a minute or two. Then move on.
If you can, perhaps meet with a friend for a coffee beforehand, go off your separate ways for the activity, and then reconvene to compare your results.
Maybe you’re not feeling it and you can’t ‘see’ anything. Maybe you’re not enjoying it, or your friend’s photos are way better than yours. That’s fine. You’ve had some exercise, you’ve had some fresh air. And that’s enough.
Give it a go - it might help!
*Actually, sometimes I almost wish I didn’t put any on IG, and shot just for the enjoyment of the moment and for nothing else. There’s a part of me that critiques them hard in the moment, with an audience in mind. I suppose, yes, this does also serve to make me look/work/think a little more, rather than have me just taking snaps. It also might delay gratification until later - the joy of a more polished, considered photo which others can enjoy.