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Photography as Therapy: How To Keep Your Mind Positively Occupied

17 Oct

The post Photography as Therapy: How To Keep Your Mind Positively Occupied appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Using your camera as a tool for photography as therapy is a healthy habit to develop. Often artists produce some of their best work when they are feeling pressured or stressed. Creative expression is a fabulous way to release tension when you are feeling down.

Creative minds tend to be more sensitive and respond differently to the stresses life can bring. By picking up your camera and engaging in the creative expression of photography, therapy happens.

photography as therapy meditating — © Kevin Landwer-Johan

Why it’s good to engage in photography as therapy

By picking up your camera and taking photos, you are helping your mind focus on something other than what’s causing you stress.

(Unless your camera or creative process is the cause of your angst, that is. Hopefully, that is not the case.)

I know that, whenever I am taking photos of a subject I find interesting, I am in a very different mental space. I concentrate more intensely and can easily forget about what might be worrying me.

Focus on what you enjoy and it will be therapeutic. As you have your camera in hand and give your attention to being creative, your mind will give more space to positive, constructive thoughts than the negative ones you may have been dwelling on.

Meditate on what you are doing. The more you can clear your mind of thoughts that are worrying you and concentrate on taking photos, the more you will see great results. If you can, follow your feelings as you are taking photographs. Infuse the feelings into your pictures, and you may soon begin to feel better as your mood changes.

Being creative generally requires positivity to a certain degree for most artists. As you put your energy into taking photos, you will hopefully notice a change as you stick to your constructive thoughts. The more you focus on taking photos, the more your negative thoughts and feelings will diminish.

Woman taking a photo for photography therapy — © Kevin Landwer-Johan

Regularly practice photography therapy

The more frequently you do anything, the better you become at doing it. Photography as therapy, when practiced frequently, can help improve how you feel.

Concentrating when you’re stressed can be challenging. By committing to regularly taking photos, even for 15 minutes a day, you’ll most likely find that you can concentrate better and for longer. You’ll also see an improvement in your photography skills and creative expression.

Make time to take photos. Photography therapy will not happen unless you commit time and energy. As you press on and make a daily habit of photography, you will experience being more satisfied and will feel free from what’s been bothering you.

Photography is not likely to eliminate all your problems, but it can at least give your mind a break from them.

You may also find that, as you have your camera in hand and your attention is given to positive thoughts, potential solutions to your problems will come to mind.

Woman with a film camera for photography as therapy — © Kevin Landwer-Johan

Work on a photography project

To help keep yourself engaged in photography, having a project to regularly work on is beneficial. Knowing each day what you’ll photograph means you can grab your camera and take photos without having to search for a subject.

If you’re someone who finds it challenging to find new subjects, creating a project for yourself will enable you to be more productive. That way, you won’t waste time trying to decide what to photograph.

Pick a theme for your photography project that you know you’ll enjoy. Photographing what you love will naturally help you take more creative photos. By capturing the same subject or theme over a period of time, you’ll make more diverse photos than if you only photograph a subject occasionally.

Working on a photography project will help you develop as an artist. Once you’ve been working on your project for a while, you’ll be able to look back over the body of work you’ve created and see how you are progressing.

Take the time to study the photos you’ve made. Analyze them and consider how you’d like to progress with your project. By reflecting on the photographs you are making, you can discover new ways of seeing and expressing yourself through your photography.

I love gardening and being in my garden, but I have never been particularly interested in photographing it. Now I am challenging myself to take photos in my garden often because I want to get better at this style of photography.

Without commitment and without pushing myself to photograph my garden regularly, I know I’ll never get better at it. I’m not expecting to take masterpiece photos as I begin. But I do hope that, in time, I’ll be able to capture some images that I’ll be satisfied with.

Pressing forward with this project has challenged me to improve my photography. The deliberate concentration helps me to remain focused on my creative expression. When I have time, or when I see that the light is particularly beautiful, I can pick up my camera and begin photographing without having to stop and think about what to take pictures of.

tricycle taxi project photo — © Kevin Landwer-Johan

Get inspired by the photography of others

If you’re not sure where to start, pick up a book or look at the websites of some of your favorite photographers.

When you are stressed and in need of some photography therapy, it can be difficult to find inspiration on your own. At times like this, it’s helpful to look at the work of other photographers with an open mind; that way, you can find new ideas.

Don’t confine your sources of inspiration to photography. Draw ideas from music and other art forms. You might pick a theme to photograph based on one of your favorite songs or movies. Think outside the box a little more than normal as you look, listen, and feel the art you love.

Learn by mimicking, in some ways, other creatives you admire. Picasso said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” Take ideas from others and make them your own. Don’t merely copy something that you like. Put your own expression into it so that you truly own it.

Two Kayan long neck girls — © Kevin Landwer-Johan

Share your photography therapy experience

Many photographers prefer to work alone. Being with your camera and having no one else around can help you concentrate better. But, at times, being with other photographers and comparing notes is helpful, too. Group photography therapy can help you develop your creative expression in new ways.

Find a few people who enjoy the same style of photography and subject matter as you. Plan photography sessions together and engage with each other as you are taking your pictures.

Get together over a coffee and discuss your photos. This will help you all grow as you discover how others see and photograph the same subjects. It’s not a competition. Don’t make it one. Treat it as an encouraging time to build each other up, and you’ll all begin to see an improvement in the pictures you’re taking.

Two cameras for photography therapy — © Pansa Landwer-Johan

Photography as therapy: Conclusion

Be purposeful about photography as therapy. Practice being mindful and having your camera in your hands frequently.

As you make yourself take photographs regularly, you’ll begin to notice how much easier it is to concentrate on what you are doing. You’ll start to see your creativity increase, your photography improve, and the stresses of life begin to fade away.

The post Photography as Therapy: How To Keep Your Mind Positively Occupied appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

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PolarPro introduces ultra-lightweight filter systems with active creators in mind

13 Nov

Today, California-based filter manufacturer, PolarPro, known for their premium ND and polarizing filters for cameras, as well as drones, announced the launch of two toolless, ultra-lightweight filter systems – one matte box, Basecamp, and one landscape filter system called Summit – designed to catapult professional creatives to the next skill level.

BaseCamp Ultra-lightweight Matte Box System

A base camp is a pillar of safety, as you head out into the unknown. It’s a haven to take shelter intermittently as battle the elements and push your limits to capture the best possible footage. Camera gear is getting heavier, especially lenses as higher quality optics are implemented. PolarPro designed BaseCamp, the lightest matte box system possible at 438 grams, to alleviate the burden heavier cameras put on operators and gimbals.

Built on the foundation of PolarPro’s Quartzline series, the toolless Variable Neutral Density configuration allows photographers and filmmakers to adapt to any lighting change instantly without having to swap out filters. Its modular design, constructed out of aluminum and carbon fibers, features a removable flag and hood that allows users to customize it to suit their production requirements.

Summit Landscape Filter System

Summit is a new range filter system aimed at photographers. It allows for toolless filter swapping and, like the BaseCamp system, has been designed with a large grip handle to minimize the risk of fingerprints on the filters. Summit filters screw onto the end of your lens and were constructed, with lightweight aluminum, in a fully light-sealed system to prevent light leakage.

PolarPro is offering $ 100 off the first 300 people who purchase their Summit Landscape Kit, the BaseCamp VND Kit, and their Cores. The BaseCamp VND Kit retails for $ 799, its Core is $ 399, Rectangular Filters are $ 299 each, while Rails Kits come out to $ 119.99 each. The Summit Landscape Kit will cost you $ 699, its Core $ 299.99, both Gradient and Neutral Density Filters $ 249.99 each, and a Circular Polarizer for either the Matte Box or Filter System costs $ 150. All can be purchased on PolarPro’s website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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‘Streets in Mind’ shows NYC through the eyes of B&W street photographer Alan Schaller

26 Mar

SmugMug Films has released Streets in Mind, its latest film that follows London-based street photographer Alan Schaller around the busy streets of New York City.

The film comes in at five-and-a-half minutes and takes a wonderful look into the life and work of Schaller. As narrator, Schaller explains how he came to be a street photographer after a career in music.

In the words of SmugMug Films, Schaller’s ‘surrealist, geometric eye reveals the hauntingly intimate beauty which exists in the hustle of every day life in the Big Apple.’

You can find more of Schaller’s work on his Flickr photo stream and purchase a print through his online shop.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Video: Five tips to keep in mind when buying used film cameras

15 Dec

YouTuber Casey Cavanaugh, whose work has been featured before on DPReview, has produced a handy video guide for those looking for buy their first film camera. Posted on his GxAce YouTube channel Casey runs through five top tips for checking over some of the essential functions of an old film body and lens to make sure it is going to be worth buying.

He shows how to check shutter speeds and ways to spot problems, as well as pointing out the importance of the integrity of the camera’s light seals. He also has useful information on examining the condition of a lens and discussing what is repairable and what should be avoided. Buyers should take a spare battery and a flash light/torch with them, Cavanaugh says, to ensure lenses are clean and that the camera is functioning normally.

If you have an eye on a second hand film body this might help you avoid buying a dud.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Ultra-creative NYC ‘layer-lapse’ plays with night and day… and your mind

18 Nov

Filmmaker Julian Tryba has created a time-lapse that is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before—and that’s saying something when you’re talking about one of the most popular (and creative) genres of photography out there. His so-called NYC Layer-Lapse ditches the traditional time-lapse model of watching the world go by, and instead uses post-processing to inject a little bit of night into his daytime shots and day into his nighttime shots.

An effect Tryba says is inspired by Einstein’s theory of relativity, it’s quite difficult to explain what’s going on in words. Here’s how Tryba himself puts it in the video’s description:

Traditional time-lapses are constrained by the idea that there is a single universal clock. In the spirit of Einstein’s relativity theory, layer-lapses assign distinct clocks to any number of objects or regions in a scene. Each of these clocks may start at any point in time, and tick at any rate. The result is a visual time dilation effect known as layer-lapse.

In perfect time with the music, parts of the frame—usually individual buildings or groups of buildings in the iconic NYC skyline—shift from night to day or visa versa. In this frame, for example, the One World Trade Center is shown at nighttime, while the rest of the skyline is lit up by the same daylight:

As impressive as the final product, however, is the way in which Tryba made it happen. This was not a 100% manual process. That, he admits, would have taken far too long; he needed to find a way to automate his workflow, and so he put his engineering background to work:

In early 2016 I started learning scripting in after effects, and began writing code to create different layer-lapse ‘looks’. To create a layer-lapse effect, I am assigning a unique equation to hundreds of buildings simultaneously. For each frame, every building is calculating and deciding which time of day to reveal

From there, the final step was syncing it all to music, which was also done algorithmically:

The final step is linking an action or a script to a piece of the music. One way I’ve found this can be done is creating a set of audio triggers for a song, so that every note or beat triggers a change. By linking a certain script to each of these triggers one can create computer generated layer-lapses that are animated in response to music.

The result is an impressive feat of both time-lapse filmmaking and creative coding that allows Tyrba to create something out-of-this-world that will mess with your head as you view it. To that end: full screen and 4K if you please. And if you want to learn even more about how this time-lapse was created, click here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Architecture for Animals: 13 Structures Designed with Non-Human Use in Mind

29 Jun

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

If we’re going to keep animals in artificial environments to make money off gawking at them, you’d hope we’d at least design these structures sensitively, hiring top architects to give them the kind of loving care we’d give to our own homes. Whether building spacious zoo enclosures mimicking natural environments, bat-friendly bridges, stables to house horses in ultimate comfort or wildlife crossings over highways, this collection of animal-centric architecture aims to be the next best thing to leaving animals in the wild where they belong, and giving them plenty of space from human activity.

Panda House by Bjarke Ingels Group / BIG

BIG designed a circular indoor/outdoor enclosure for giant pandas at the Copenhagen Zoo, set to open in 2018. The spacious and lushly planted structure will house two pandas relocated from Chengdu, China in a layout inspired by the Chinese yin-yang symbol, with each half tilting up at either end. There’s a bamboo forest on one side and a denser ‘misty’ forest on the other to represent the panda’s habitats in the wild.

Bat-Friendly Bridge by NEXT Architecture

This bridge by Next Level Architecture in South Holland doubles as a bat habitat, with just a few modifications to a conventional bridge design, providing an example that could be replicated all over the world. Spanning a river that’s an important natural pathway for the local bat population, the bridge features extra-thick concrete to increase its thermal mass, making it warm for winter hibernation and a cool summer nesting spot.

Raven Enclosure at the Tower of London by Llowarch Llowarch Architects

Five oak and mesh aviaries by Llowarch Llowarch Architects contrast with the ancient forms of the Tower of London, replacing the ‘ad hoc collection of sheds’ once used to house the complex’s famous resident ravens. According to English legend, if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, the kingdom will fall – so the birds have been protected inhabitants of the historic palace, fortress and prison since the 17th century. Of course, different ravens have come and gone over the years.

Finnish Stables by Pook

Local architecture studio Pook designed this stylish stable on the edge of a Finnish forest to blend in with the rural setting and complement the local architectural vernacular. The layout creates wind shelters in outdoor spaces to protect the horses against the southwestern winds. Inside, there’s an open room for feeding and walking the horses, storage for equipment and a barn for manure. The use of untreated pine in the cladding helps naturally control the humidity of the environment for the horses’ health.

Kangaroo Enclosure by White Arkitekter

Another modern addition to the Copenhagen Zoo is this cylindrical house for Tasmanian kangaroos by White Arkitekter, which allows visitors to enter the kangaroos’ enclosure without stressing the animals. Part of the enclosure is for the kangaroos themselves, with a heated concrete floor to keep them warm in winter. The slatted timber doors can be folded back to open parts of the space to the wider enclosure, while others remain closed so shy kangaroos can have their privacy.

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Architecture For Animals 13 Structures Designed With Non Human Use In Mind

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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3 Tips for Photographing Children Without Losing Your Mind

27 Apr

photographing-children-9

Photographing children is one of my favorite things to do, but at times it can also be one of the most difficult. Sometimes with kiddos, there is a very thin line between capturing memories that will last a lifetime, and capturing tears, tantrums, and meltdowns. After years of photographing nieces, nephews, friends, and my own girls, I’ve made a whole lot of mistakes. But, I’ve also picked up a few tips and tricks that help things go a little more smoothly when it comes to photographing children, that will hopefully make your life a little easier as well.

1. Choose your location thoughtfully

photographing-children-8

When photographing children, heading to a park is a no-brainer, right? Well, maybe. Parks can be really great, free resources for photographers, but it’s important to think about them through the eyes of a child as well. As a photographer, if you take a young child to a park with a playground and then attempt to have them sit still on the grass directly across from the playground for a portrait, chances are that you’re creating an scenario that may not end well. If there’s a playground in view, you’d better be prepared that the kids will want to play on it.

photographing-children-7

Sometimes, letting kids play on the playground is a great way to capture some more candid moments, and other times it is a big distraction. More and more, I find myself scheduling sessions at hiking trail heads, covered bridges, and open fields, which still allow for plenty of room to run and play, but in a location that provides fewer distractions. In addition, I find these sorts of locations to be more aesthetically pleasing for capturing those candid moments, than playgrounds often are.

2. Find ways to make them laugh

photographing-children-6

Anyone who has photographed kids knows that most kids have a fake smile, that makes an appearance any time someone asks them to smile. That fake smile is fine, and may be unavoidable to some extent, but it is always better to get a real smile or laugh whenever possible. There are so many ways to do this, but I’ll share just a couple that I’ve found to be effective with lots of different children.

The first is simply to ask them to show you a variety of different faces. It’s fun to capture the silly faces that they make, but the point is really to capture their genuine smiles and laughs at your reaction to their silly faces. In the photo above, I asked my daughter if she would show me her angry face (left), and while I absolutely love that photo, and think it actually captures her slightly mischievous personality very well, my goal was really the more natural smile (right) that came after my laughter and exclamations that her angry face was absolutely terrifying.

In my experience, most kids think it’s hilarious to run through a whole string of different faces: angry, silly, dinosaur face, prince/princess face, hungry face, tired face, surprised face, and happy face all tend to be fun, and often result in lots of genuine smiles and laughs.

photographing-children-3

Another thing that seems to work well for most kids is to simply ask them to give you a funny pose. Be ready, because you may get anything from a stuck out tongue, to much more hysterical shenanigans. I truly never know what to expect, but always be ready to capture whatever it is. I often include a few of the most silly photos in the final images, because even if they aren’t 100% perfect or they don’t fit my normal aesthetic, they just plain make everyone happy, and I think there’s value in that. There’s also a practical value during the session as well, in that once again, being silly results in genuine smiles and laughs. Time and time again, my favorite images in a session are often the ones that come directly after the silliest images.

photographing-children-4

3. Be sensitive, and keep a sense of humor

My oldest daughter once cried for a half an hour because I made blackberry cobbler for breakfast, and she wanted toast instead. My youngest daughter laid on the floor, cried real tears, and screamed that I was ruining her whole life because I asked her to put on her shoes this morning. Moments like those are rarely funny at the time, but sometimes an hour or a day later, you find yourself laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

photographing-children-2

When it comes to kids, the reality is that even if you’ve been thoughtful about the timing and location of a session, sometimes meltdowns happen for no identifiable reason, and come from out of nowhere (sometimes they even happen mid-photo, as above). Photo sessions can be kind of stressful, and feel really high pressure for both kids and their parents. Sometimes with a little humor, distraction, or quick change of plans, everyone can get through a tantrum or minor meltdown just fine, and you’ll all laugh about it years later. Sometimes, it’s more than that, and a child may be having a meltdown because of sensory issues that you are unaware of, or because they’ve been battling a cold or they’re teething and they just don’t feel good.

Regardless of the reason, sometimes it’s clear that the kiddo is genuinely upset, and isn’t going to calm down any time soon. If a child is genuinely upset, don’t force things. If it’s possible, offering to try again on a different day can be a really meaningful good-will gesture. After all, a parent saying, “Stop crying and smile” rarely (if ever) results in those genuine smiles that we so desperately try to achieve as photographers. It’s a fine line to walk sometimes, between being sensitive to the really legitimate feelings that kids may be having, and to also recognize that sometimes kids cry and get hysterical about really silly things, and then get over them equally as fast. If things go south, just do your best to be sensitive, while also keeping a sense of humor about things. Life is messy sometimes.

photographing-children-5

Do you have any other tips that make photographing children just a little bit easier? Please share in the comments below, and I’d love to see your kid photos too.

People photography week

This week on dPS we’re featuring articles all about different kinds of people photography including portrait, event and travel photography. See all the previous ones below, and watch for more people photography articles over the next few days.

How to Take Low Key Head-shots
How to Do a One Light Portrait Setup and Use it as Your Back-up Plan
Travel People Photography – Tips and Pitfalls
8 Tips for Photographing Men
24 Diverse Images That Showcase People Photography
Weekly Photography Challenge – People Photography
Tips for Getting Yourself to Relax as a Photographer and Have More Successful Portrait Sessions
5 Good Reasons to Add People into Your Landscape Photography
6 Must-Have People Shots to Capture When Photographing Corporate Events
4 Tips to Help You Get Started Doing Lifestyle Photography

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The post 3 Tips for Photographing Children Without Losing Your Mind by Meredith Clark appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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ANKR $25 for Piece of Mind

03 Jul

ANKR

I just installed an ANKR in my camera bag. Over the past 10 years I’ve had this reoccurring dream about my camera gear and my backpack being stolen. I’ve actually had two cameras stolen over the years unfortunately.

When you use your camera every day like I do, it’s a hazard to have to deal with. My friend Trey Ratcliff was jacked of his camera bag earlier this year. So I was very pleased to learn about ANKR. ANKR is a new product that alerts you when you become separated from your gear. The ANKR itself is super small, not much thicker than a quarter. I hid mine in a hidden area of my backpack and now if my backpack and I become separated I’ll get an immediate alert. It boggles my mind why somebody did not come out with such a helpful and useful tool 5 years ago.

Although I’m sure an ANKR is not foolproof, it’s at least a first line of defense against your gear being taken or stolen. I frequently walk around with over $ 10,000 worth of gear in my backpack and I would just be crushed if I lost it. $ 25 seems like a very small price to pay for piece of mind.

Setting up ANKR was super easy. I turned the ANKR on, downloaded the ANKR app and it found it right away. It created a “safe zone” so that I will never get an alert if my camera bag is at home (you can set up more safe zones as well), but if I’m out and about and become separated from my bag I’ll get an alert. I can also see on a map exactly where my bag was when we were separated which might be helpful for me to recover it.

ANKR is a wonderful new tool to help combat theft. I have a feeling I’m going to be purchasing a few more of these. I think I’d like to attach one to my camera strap itself, in case my camera is out of the bag and stolen. I can see lots of other applications for this tech as well (kids, car keys, car, wallet, luggage, etc.). Hopefully the more tech like this is used, the less successful thieves will be with stealing stuff.

Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

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Mind Mining: Subterranean Library Descends Into Darkness

02 Jul

[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

subterranean library 1

A fragile layer of glass is all that prevents you from falling, Alice-in-Wonderland-style, into a tunnel of books that seems to descend deep below the surface of the earth, its bottom shrouded in darkness. Roughly the size of a mine shaft, this miniature subterranean library hides all of its titles from view, the spines of the books turned inward, making it all the more mysterious.

subterranean library 2

Entitled ‘When My Father Died It Was Like a Whole Library Had Burned Down,’ the intriguing installation by Swedish artist Susanna Hesselberg has been dug into the sand on a Denmark beach for the biennial Sculpture by the Sea art festival. The name references a line in the song World Without End by pioneering experimental electronic musician Laurie Anderson. Hesselberg previously installed the piece as a tower of books rising into the air, rather than plummeting under the surface of the earth.

subterranean library 3

We previously covered another entry into the show, ‘New Horizon,’ a wooden observation point that perfectly frames views of the sky and sea. Check out the rest of the 56 site-specific exhibits, including large-scale architectural sculptures on land and on the water, currently lining the coast of Aarhus, Denmark. Sculpture by the Sea is the nation’s largest outdoor sculpture exhibition, occurring every two years and featuring artists from two dozen countries.

[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Posing Guide: How to Pose Groups without Losing Your Mind

09 Mar

The other day I had mom bring her daughter in for fine art dance pictures. “Oh, just snap away while she’s doing her competition routine… she doesn’t like to be interrupted,“ the mom said as the daughter grand jeted halfway off my roll paper half in the storage room, facing completely away from me. Shooting that would be crazy, right? Continue Reading

The post Posing Guide: How to Pose Groups without Losing Your Mind appeared first on Photodoto.

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360Photography

Posts Tagged ‘Mind’

Photography as Therapy: How To Keep Your Mind Positively Occupied

Why it’s good to engage in photography as therapy

Regularly practice photography therapy

Work on a photography project

Get inspired by the photography of others

Share your photography therapy experience

Photography as therapy: Conclusion

PolarPro introduces ultra-lightweight filter systems with active creators in mind