On The Photographer’s Relationship to Here and Now
On The Photographer’s Relationship to Here and Now
Seeing is at the core of an image maker’s craft. The American modern photographer Edward Weston addressed this topic in his Seeing photographically essay (1943). According to Weston, seeing photographically means “learning to see the subject matter in terms of the capacities of his tools (of the photographer’s) and processes, so that he can instantaneously translate the elements and values in a scene before him into the photography he wants to make.” From a historical point of view, as many photographers of his generation, Weston was deeply involved in defining the 
photographic language as a way to convince the fine artists to recognize Photography as an art form. This goal inevitably required a special “focus” on the act of seeing. In his essay, Weston asserts that “Among all the arts photography is unique by reason of its instantaneous recording process”. It’s essential to highlight here the fact that the time in which a photographer actually presses the shutter to capture an image is always the now. That means that all the hard work has to be done prior to the “decisive click”.
Engaging with the present
Street photographers and photojournalists are engaging with the present on a daily basis. Unfortunately, many of us either idealize or overlook the tuning in with one’s physical and mental self. Instead of understanding life from within ourselves, we let the Ego go wild and the risk of doing that is that we allow the mind to start thinking compulsively. Exploring a photographer’s relationship to the ideas of “here and now” is essentially challenging and requires a personal experience and attitude toward the present moment, one that puts the intellect (and Ego) on hold.
While studying visual composition, human anatomy and even basic drawing lessons might help one understand and integrate certain solutions in their work, such as compositional guidelines, recent research indicates a series of real benefits for photographers who approach their craft from a challenging perspective – pausing one’s thoughts every once in a while. In other words, mindfulness can improve a photographer’s practice.
Mindfulness and photography
The main reason why I think mindfulness is relevant to photography is that it nurtures a deep level of clarity towards the present moment. Photographers always work with instants of reality but often they are focused more on the outcome than on process. That is to say, mindfulness is an intuitive practice that helps one to open up with clearness and clarity to any photographic situation.
Mindfulness refers to a certain quality of awareness, often cultivated through a breathing meditation technique. The author of “Wherever You Go, There You Are”, Jon Kabat-Zinn explains to us that “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment; Mindfulness is being here now, with kindness and open-hearted curiosity”.
I would say that the applications of mindfulness meditation relate to all of our senses. This practice aims to cultivate the awareness of the data we perceive from our reality – what we hear, smell, taste, touch and see, as well as what our Ego likes to think about instead of simply observing life. In other words, at the core of mindfulness meditation is the “letting go” of expectations and preconceptions so that one can start observing anything before them without the help of labels and categories that are automatically being made by the mind.
Photography as meditation
Approaching photography as a form of meditation allows the brain to pay attention in a relaxed state of mind. However, you should also take into consideration that mindfulness is based on an effortless practice but that means you should not imagine you can live (and photograph) fully aware only because you are convinced that’s what you’re doing. For instance, if someone tells you not to think of a flying pig, your mind instantly “focuses” on such an image. The harder you try not to think of a flying pig, the more you do.
The principles of mindfulness could be successfully applied especially to Street Photography. A war photojournalist will naturally be focused on staying alive while capturing a historical event but a street photographer can easily find a proper context that allows him to overlap mindfulness and photography. So next time when you are pressing the button, remember to experience the photographic “here and now” knowing that it is ok to:
- Relax
- Allow yourself to be aware of the present moment
- Try to recognize yourself (your aims, fears, etc.) in the photographs you (would like to) take
- Ignore the outcome (often reduced by photographers and artists to recognition/fame) in order to expand your intuition
- Be aware of what you think and how you feel at any moment
- Enjoy the journey as it was your destination
Enjoy the now
Further readings:
https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Essays-Photography-Alan-Trachtenberg/dp/091817208X
https://www.amazon.com/Train-Your-Gaze-Theoretical-Introduction/dp/294037337X
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Photographer-Tom-Ang/dp/0756664292
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ways_of_Seeing