The Profound Healing Power of Photography
These are strange times we find ourselves in.
We inhabit a world that seems to perpetually gather pace. A world with an on-demand news cycle that delivers constant updates on how the planet around us is falling apart. A world where even the most tech-minded can feel quickly outdated by a landscape that moves as though we observe it through the windows of a Japanese bullet train. And a world that can burden its passengers with the baggage of anxiety and stress on a daily basis with the sort of ease one might pop shoes on their feet.
These are strange, worrying times, we find ourselves in.
And now, on the back of an introduction that is no doubt doing nothing to relieve any of the anxieties you might be feeling, it might seem weird to start talking about photography.
Yet here we are.
Photography and Wellbeing
Behind the mechanics, composition, lighting and simply having an eye for the shot that make the up the fundamentals, photography has another role to play. It is a momentary escape route and a vessel to transport us to that fabled realm known as mindfulness.
Wait, don’t go, I’m not about to light incense and start chanting at you.
That comes later.
All joking aside, photography is a chance to shut out the noise and chaos of a world on full throttle and be present in one perfect moment in time, time and time again.
It is quite literally a medium of moments, where the past and future no longer exist, but the present is at its most tangible. And that offers respite and mental health benefits that can prove priceless.
Let’s break it down a little.
Being Present
If the past cannot be changed and the future is an unknown, then surely the present is the only real foundation in life. Being present, truly present, where we feel the rain as delicate pinpricks upon our skin rather than simply acknowledge the fact it’s raining, is about living in the details that hide between the lines of each day.
To notice the sounds of life and the scent of living, is to be in a space that can benefit a person’s mental state. And photography can provide the key to unlock this space.
When the photographer looks down the lens they are swallowed by the present. They notice every detail, feel the little shifts in the frame, appreciate the way light and shade interact with one another, and ultimately, they become completely present in a moment that fades the past and future to transparent nothingness.
It is a beautiful, literal snapshot of precision and serenity amongst the chaos, and a wonderful antidote to the speed of life.
Self-Expression
Everyone sees the world slightly differently to the next person. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all, and where one person sees beauty in the petals of a flower, another will see it in the spokes of a wheel.
What photography offers is a medium to be expressive, explore the world, and look at it in different ways. It is a chance to find your own beauty and celebrate it.
And photography is drenched in emotion. Sometimes the emotion is entirely personal, a photo of an object or a place that in some way connects you to something tangible from your life. Perhaps it’s a person, a moment, or a place that invokes the spirits of old memories so rich you can almost taste them marmalade thick on the tongue. We are emotional beings, photography allows us to indulge.
Or possibly it’s artistic expression that you travel by. Embracing the power in colour and shape, the beauty in the abstract and the magic in the mundane. It is expression through images that are perfect thanks to their imperfections. Perfect because they reveal to us another’s vision and a gateway to explore self-expression.
And photography is a medium that welcomes one and all, where extroverts and introverts walk the same path, and the only real rules are the ones you set yourself.
Community
Community has never been more of an integral part of photography than it is in 2024. The reason…social media.
The social landscape is a perfect 24/7 showcase for budding photographers, seasoned professionals, and weekend snappers alike. When it works, it is an ocean of shots where you can dive deep and let inspiration wash over you. It is a space for discovery, connection, and sharing, in perpetual motion that makes it appear almost organic by nature.
But community doesn’t only live in places where photographers connect.
At Tempest Photography, community is possibly the aspect that resonates most clearly. When our photographers visit schools and universities, or capture a military event or sporting success, the reality is that we are immortalising a community.
It may be a community that lasts a lifetime, or it may be one that bonds us for a brief period. Regardless, these communities shape us in ways we likely never realise at the time but that we carry into future endeavours, and they offer great joy in the moments we pull the photo from a drawer and offer it a smile.
Healing
The therapeutic benefits of photography have become more recognised by practitioners in recent years. The reality, however, of anyone who has ever picked up a camera and put an eye to the lens, is that such benefits are as old as the camera itself.
Photography is a way to momentarily switch off the noise of the outside world, a silencer of sorts, where the photographer can embrace the now and reduce the past and future to a distant background hum.
Research suggests engagement with photography offers help with grief, trauma, and the navigation of complex emotions. In short, it can prove a tool to help the healing process.
Conclusion
Whether your own photography journey is in its infancy or a long-standing love affair, be proud to have opened the door to your own little sanctuary. Embrace this transformative tool that can deliver self-expression and offer profound insights into the human experience whilst at the same time nurturing the soul.
In a world determined to challenge us daily with news blown in on the winds of anxiety, photography can offer a shelter from the storm. A brief respite to remind oneself that there is still joy to be had, that such joy is still in abundance if we look in the right places. Sometimes it will live in the arms of nature, sometimes in the warmth of family and friends, and occasionally, it will reside down the barrel of a lens.