How can we achieve more personally expressive images with our photography? It is a question that's on my mind often and one that challenges us to keep improving and evolving in our work. As people, we constantly change and evolve, based on our life experiences, the people we meet, and the people we lose. These feelings and emotions mold us and create who we are in the present. They are actually fundamental to our personality. All these elements shape us, and shape the way we see the world.
The lives we lead can be chaotic and noisy. Society these days has more ways to grab our attention, and not always, I would even say most of the time, for the better. It can leave us with very little left in our attention span, so where and who we choose to lend our attention is important. Particularly in photography, the more conscious we are of our work, the better we can enjoy the experience. I find that when I'm out in the landscape, firstly I take time to adjust to the environment. I listen and observe. I leave the camera in the bag and just take a little breath and enjoy. It is in many ways a meditative state, living in the moment allows us to really immerse ourselves within Nature. This approach serves to help my photography become more expressive and more personal. This experience is as important as trying to make a photograph. So, by being present and connected with our surroundings, we can capture images that truly reflect our inner thoughts and emotions.
