Photography is a lot more than just taking nice photos.
To me, photography is a lifeline. It’s a form of therapy. It’s a creative habit that has benefits far beyond what we realize.
Adopting a creativity lifestyle is crucial.
Being creative, engaging in artistic activities and making art is crucial to our well-being. The antidote to anxiety isn’t productivity, it’s creativity.
When @newhappyco posted this on Instagram, I instantly related to it (with a twist):
credit: @newhappyco
↑ This is me after I take photos!
Whenever I’m feeling unsettled or I have scrambled thoughts that I need to process, going for a little photo walk with my iPhone camera fixes everything. I get in a state of flow, I concentrate on colour, light, shapes and compositions, and the act of taking photos calms me down.
The feelings and thoughts are still there, but they are “tidied up” and managed after I finish taking photos. The overwhelm dissipates.
That’s the power of talking about your feelings… and also taking photos about your feelings.
So how do I take photos about my feelings?
By taking photos using the feelings I’m feeling.
If I have feelings that feel vague, uncertain and daunting, I set my camera out of focus and create blurry abstract photos.
If something feels dark and gloomy, I look for drab, monochromatic scenes to capture.
There’s something amazing about taking photos that look like the feelings I’m feeling.
You’d think that taking bright and cheerful photos would help when feeling drab and gloomy. But the opposite is true!
Feeling my feelings, taking photos that represent the sense of those feelings and creating art from it helps to process, manage and “tame” those feelings.
In the same way, photography can also be therapy for joyful, happy times.
When I’m feeling fantastic, optimistic and energized, taking photos with those emotions helps me to saturate in that good frame of mind. It helps to mark the moment, celebrate it and create a reminder of that state of mind.
Those colourful photos become a treasure and a point of reference if ever I’m feeling drab and uninspired. It preserves hope, and creates a concrete piece of art that gives me a foundation to fall back on in uncertain times.
These thoughts are just anecdotal observations from my life over the last several decades of exploring art.
But what I love is that science also backs this up.
Several studies show that art creation:
- helps with emotion regulation
- helps to process trauma, grief or anxiety by externalizing emotions
- improves quality of life by producing more hope and a sense of agency
- reduces stress and anxiety
What you can do
To nurture a Creativity Lifestyle, you can start by developing a habit of taking photos.
I recommend using a phone camera because it’s easy, accessible and doesn’t cost you money if you already own one.
Next time you’re feeling emotions that are scrambled and making you anxious, go for a photo walk. This could just be in your backyard.
Or to make it even easier, this could just be in your home.
Don’t stress about where to go, just look immediately around you.
Look for shapes, colours, light, shadows, textures or interesting lines. Notice things that look like how you’re feeling.
Take photos of it. Try different angles. Experiment.
Don’t be afraid of making mistakes (because there are none to make in a shoot like this).
Keep taking photos until you feel a sense of resolution or peace. Not that you figured out the world, but that your feelings feel like that second colour wheel.
And that’s it!
The next steps:
Make a habit of taking your camera out when big feelings need to be processed.
Or better yet, make a habit of taking photos daily, regardless of how you’re feeling.
The more you do it, the more it’ll become second nature.
And you’ll start experiencing those health benefits.
I recently experimented with out of focus shapes, shadows, rain and street lights. The moment happened spontaneously while I was a passenger in the car. It took about 5-10 minutes and afterwards I felt satisfied.
The photos aren’t perfect, but the feelings I felt after taking those photos were exactly what I needed.
A sense of resolution. Of awe. Of discovering something amazing about how light hits rain water through glass.
Of knowing that even in darkness, and the chaos of life moving at lightening fast speeds, there is still a glimmer of beauty if we pause to look for it. It doesn’t remove the darkness or uncertainty, but noticing glimmers of beauty helps us come to terms with the tough stuff of life.
Creating those photos helped me to reach that conclusion, and it settled my anxious thoughts.
What about you? How will you process your feelings today with your phone?
The results may delight you!
-Gabrielle Touchette
