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There is something wonderfully quiet about looking through a camera.
The world doesn’t necessarily become quieter, but somehow we do.
Photography asks us to stop, observe and be present. We notice the way light falls across a wall, a reflection in a puddle, the expression that lasts only a second, or the small details we might normally walk straight past.
In that sense, photography can be a form of meditation.
Meditation is often described as bringing our attention to the present moment. Photography does much the same thing. When we are completely absorbed in making an image, our attention shifts away from the noise of everyday life. For a moment, there is simply light, composition, subject and possibility.
The camera gives us permission to slow down.
A photographic walk can become less about reaching a destination and more about noticing what happens along the way. We start watching shadows. We wait for someone to enter the frame. We wait for the light to hit the mountain peak at the right moment. We notice colours, patterns and relationships between objects. Things that seemed ordinary suddenly become interesting. Consuming.
Perhaps this is also why photography can feel restorative. It creates a small space between ourselves and everything else demanding our attention.
And unlike traditional meditation, photography doesn’t require us to close our eyes or empty our minds. Quite the opposite. It asks us to open our eyes wider.
There is also something meditative about waiting. Landscape photographers wait for light. Street photographers wait for moments. Wildlife photographers can wait hours for something to happen. Even when photographing something familiar, we often pause and wait until all the elements come together.
In those moments, we aren’t thinking about yesterday or worrying about tomorrow.
We are simply there.
Of course, photography isn’t always peaceful. We can become obsessed with settings, equipment, sharpness, likes and whether we’ve captured the “perfect” shot. But perhaps the most rewarding photography happens when we forget some of that and allow ourselves simply to look.
Maybe that’s why carrying a camera can change the way we experience the world even when we don’t take a photograph.
It reminds us to notice.
And perhaps that is where photography and meditation meet: both encourage us to slow down, pay attention and find something extraordinary in the moment we’re already in. I think photography is a form of meditation, what do you think?
I’m with you all the way on this perspective Sarina. I have a friend who has written a book (some time ago) called ‘Eyes of the Heart’ (Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice) which has influenced my disposition in photography. She speaks not of ‘taking’ or ‘capturing’ images but receiving them. I am somewhat addicted to African wildlife and find the experience of a game drive highly meditative. So much so, that I have an article in my head which is asking to be written, titled ‘The spirituality of safari’ Thanks for initiating this conversation.
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