When people discover that I’m both a nutritional therapist and a photographer, the two things can seem rather unrelated.
One is concerned with health, nutrition and the body. The other is about light, people, moments and images. But I’ve increasingly come to realise that, for me at least, they’re not separate at all.
Photography is one of the ways I nourish my nervous system.
It’s my creativity. It gets me outside. It gets me moving. It connects me with other people, and perhaps most importantly, it changes where I put my attention.
When I’m looking through a camera, I’m looking for light, colour, shape, expression and those tiny moments that disappear almost as soon as you’ve noticed them. I’m not thinking about what happened yesterday or what I need to do tomorrow.
I’m here.
In many ways, photography is my meditation. And there’s some fascinating research beginning to explore why that might matter.
Mindfulness doesn’t have to mean sitting still
Mention mindfulness and many of us immediately picture conventional meditation. Sit somewhere quiet. Close your eyes. Concentrate on your breathing. Notice your thoughts without becoming caught up in them. That can be reallly valuable. But it doesn’t work equally well for everybody.
Researchers at the University of Exeter have explored another possibility: mindful photography.
The research examined photography-based interventions and compared mindful photography in nature with guided meditation in nature.
One of its conclusions particularly resonated with me. The researcher suggested that mindful photography not only has the potential to enhance wellbeing, but:
“…it might also be a more acceptable form of mindfulness than conventional guided meditation.”
And I think that’s important because perhaps mindfulness isn’t necessarily about how you practise it.
It’s about attention.
For some people, focusing on the breath works beautifully. For others, perhaps it’s noticing the light falling through a tree.
A camera changes the way you look
Try going for a walk with the specific intention of taking photographs and something interesting happens.
You start looking.
Not just seeing what’s around you, but actively noticing it.
Where is the light coming from?
What’s reflected in that puddle?
What’s growing between those paving stones?
What happens if I move three steps to the left?
Why does that ordinary wall suddenly look beautiful with the late-afternoon sun falling across it?
Photographer Gajan Balan has described the photographic process in four broad stages:
activation → observation → composition → curation
And that observation stage is particularly interesting from a wellbeing perspective. Rather than attention continually turning inward towards worries and repetitive thoughts, you’re deliberately directing it towards your surroundings. You’re searching. Not for danger or problems.
But for something worth noticing.
Photography and “soft fascination”
There’s another lovely concept relevant here: soft fascination.
Some environments capture our attention without demanding enormous effort from us. Think about watching waves moving onto a beach. Clouds crossing the sky. Leaves moving in the wind. Light flickering on water. Our attention is engaged, but not strained.
Nature is particularly good at producing these experiences, which may be one reason that photography and being outdoors can make such natural companions. A camera gives you another reason to stop. Instead of walking past something beautiful, you pause and look. You change your angle and wait for the light. Perhaps you notice something you would otherwise never have seen.
There’s rather a lot happening in your brain
Photography can appear wonderfully simple.
Point camera.
Press button.
But consider what may actually be happening.
- You’re processing light, colour, depth, shape and movement.
- You’re making decisions about composition.
- You’re coordinating your eyes and hands.
- You may be walking, crouching, climbing or moving around a subject.
- You’re solving little creative problems.
- You’re learning.
- You’re remembering what worked last time.
And if you edit your photographs afterwards, you’re making another entire series of visual and creative decisions.
An article exploring photography and brain health identified a surprisingly broad collection of activities wrapped up in photography, including walking, visual and spatial processing, learning new skills, creativity, social interaction and experiences of awe.
That doesn’t mean we can say photography prevents dementia or neurological disease.
We can’t.
But it does mean that a single enjoyable activity can bring together many things associated with mental and physical wellbeing.
And perhaps that’s more useful than trying to find one magical activity that’s supposedly “good for your brain”.
Then there’s flow
Have you ever become so absorbed in something that you suddenly realise an hour has disappeared?
That’s often described as flow.
Your attention is engaged in what you’re doing. The activity is challenging enough to hold you, but not so difficult that it becomes overwhelming.
Photography can create those moments for me. I’m thinking about composition, light and timing or I’m waiting for something to happen. I’m completely absorbed in making the image. And for that period, the endless internal to-do list has gone quiet.
That’s a very different experience from telling yourself:
I must relax now.
Sometimes trying desperately to relax becomes another task we’re failing to complete! An absorbing activity can give the mind somewhere else to go.
Photography gets me outside
For me, another enormous part of photography is simply where it takes me.
Outside.
Into daylight.
Walking.
Looking at trees, plants, landscapes, changing seasons and skies.
We already have a growing body of research around the relationship between contact with nature and psychological wellbeing. But photography adds something else. It gives me a reason to engage with the environment.
I’m not merely passing through it. I’m interacting with it and I’m looking for what is beautiful, unusual or interesting.
And sometimes I’m simply experiencing awe.
A spectacular sky.
Beautiful light.
A landscape that makes you stop in your tracks.
Those moments matter too.
But my photography isn’t always quiet
There’s another side of my work that looks nothing like peaceful mindful photography in nature.
- Weddings.
- Birthday parties.
- Baby showers.
- Events.
People everywhere!
And strangely enough, that nourishes me too. Because photography also gives me connection. I’m talking to people, watching relationships, sharing laughter and being invited into moments of celebration and affection. Social connection is part of the environment in which our nervous system exists too. Health isn’t simply something created by eating the right nutrients while living completely separately from the rest of life. We’re social beings.
Connection, belonging, laughter, creativity and pleasure matter.
Why nervous-system health is personal to me
My interest in nervous-system and brain health isn’t purely professional.
With my own previous history of multiple sclerosis and lupus, alongside a family history of autoimmunity and dementia, I’ve long been interested in the everyday things I can do to create the healthiest environment possible for my body.
That doesn’t mean I believe taking photographs can prevent those diseases. There is no evidence to make that claim. It means I think about health as a whole.
Nutrition matters.
Movement matters.
Sleep matters.
Our environment matters.
Connection matters.
And the things that help us regulate, recover, engage with life and experience pleasure matter too.
Photography happens to bring many of those things together for me.
You don’t need to be a photographer
Perhaps the loveliest thing about mindful photography is that you don’t need an expensive camera. You don’t even need to consider yourself creative. The camera on your phone is enough.
Try this:
Next time you go outside, give yourself ten minutes.
Instead of walking while thinking about where you’re going or scrolling through your phone, use the phone to photograph five things that catch your attention.
- Light.
- Colour.
- Texture.
- Something tiny.
- Something beautiful.
- Something strange.
There’s no need to share the photographs. They don’t need to be technically good. Nobody needs to “like” them. The point is simply to notice.
And see whether those ten minutes feel different.
What is your version of photography?
Photography is one of the ways I nourish my nervous system.
It doesn’t have to be yours.
Perhaps you garden.
Paint.
Cook.
Walk.
Knit.
Play music.
Dance.
Watch birds.
Make things.
What matters may be less about choosing the “right” wellness activity and more about discovering what naturally brings you into the present.
Something that makes you look outward. Something that absorbs you. Something that connects you with your body, your surroundings or other people.
Something that gives your busy mind somewhere else to be.
For me, sometimes all it takes is picking up my camera.
And looking.
Further reading
University of Exeter: Can Photography-Based Interventions Enhance Wellbeing in Non-Clinical Populations? and A Picture of Wellness: Comparing the Effects of Mindful Photography in Nature to Guided Meditation in Nature
Macfilos: Ten ways photography is good for your brain
Church x Street: Photography Heals the Brain
