This is Why Photography Will Make You More ‘Mindful’
Jay Maisel, Joel Meyerowitz, and Ernst Haas awaken their senses — So can you.
In the movie Star Wars V The Empire Strikes Back, Luke meets Yoda to receive training as a Jedi Knight. At first, Yoda does not want to train him. He feels Luke is not ready yet. Why not? Listen to what Yoda said about Luke:
“I cannot teach him. The boy has no patience”
“This one, a long time have I watched. All his life as he looked away to the future. To the horizon. Never his mind on where he was, what he was doing”
To be a Jedi Knight, Luke had to learn to be “in the moment”, fully aware of where he was and what he was doing.
Photography is the same. We’re trying to catch a fleeting moment in time and we need to be fully present, visually aware of what is in front of us. That is what being ‘mindful’ is all about. Being fully sensitive to what we see. To be “in the moment”, without judgment.
The best photographers are like a Jedi. They’re fully present, sensitive to what they see in front of them. They look at the light, shadow, texture, color, etc., and decide when and how to take the picture.
How can photography help you be more mindful?
