The therapy of taking a moment.
The meditative and healing process of photography.
Every month on the BreatheSync Instagram feed we feature an artist that is close to our heart. Afterwards we ask them some questions and share their responses unedited here. Please meet the talented photographer, Julie Davenport.
Why did you agree to the collaboration?
I seemed a natural match for my work… people always comment that they find my imagery calming.
How did you approach it?
I have a hashtag — #verbsforliving going in both my personal and commercial work, and I felt this collection would work well. I then went into my archive and selected the images that I felt worked well together — both film and digital work was used.
How does your relationship with breathing affect your creative work?
When I am in the studio shooting, I feel it becomes quite a meditative process… I seem switch off from the stresses of the everyday and deeply concentrate on the work in hand. I find myself breathing (deeply, evenly) naturally when I am behind the camera looking for the composition that I had visualised beforehand. At the end of a session, which can last for up to four hours, I always finish feeling calm and relaxed. I always smile to myself when I hear the term art therapy as I feel my job features just that on a daily basis. Surely I have the best job in the world?
Do you have any favourite images that were featured and why?
I like the image entitled Listen for different reasons… I love being near water and also it is one of my images from my personal work — an ongoing project shot mostly on 35mm film on a couple cameras that I tend to have with me all the time, one for colour and one for black and white. I have had the cameras for centuries and they have become old friends. I use the hashtag #dailyobservationsonfilm — they are just that — daily observations on film. If you are interested, you can see some of them via my website. That particular image was shot with Fuji film — I like what it does to blues and greens.
Any advice for budding photographers or creatives?
Most certainly yes! Follow your heart and not the crowd. This way you will, over time, develop your own style and your work will become timeless and never date, just as the original masters of black and white photography did. Once you are set up working then do make personal projects… these need never see light of day — they are just for you. They will make you develop as a photographer and approach your commissioned work with fresh eyes. I tend to shoot my personal work on film — anything from 5 x 4 through to large format. I find that it is a good work out for my digital jobs — it slows you down and so the quality of your imagery will improve.
Thank you Julie. If you are inspired to breathe the world better with words and images, please get in touch.
