Behind the Mindful Lens

What is Mindful Photography?

On a Saturday afternoon at 1:00 PM, a group of strangers arrived at Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas to take photos. What we captured during the three-hour exploration was the wonder in our own creative capacity to find moments of beauty and perspective as we walked through the 3rd ward of Houston. How do you mindfully capture the truth of space and the people who live within it?

Those questions were paired with the general photographic technique we asked our guide and acclaimed street photographer, Sebastien Boncy. Yet, with a classic point-and-shoot, we were encouraged to capture moments, not perfection.

This journey of capturing truth behind the lens also enabled a group of strangers to connect on their own creative practices. Some were professional photographers on a day off, while others included a mother-and-son duo with matching cameras. Each of us took part in a practice of both street photography and mindful photography.

“Mindful photography is the art of capturing narrative in a single shot, halting and freezing time and, importantly, revealing how we see things.” — Positive Psychology

We focused on capturing moments mindfully, with the process of exploration guiding our feet, lens, and experiences rather than the photos’ technical perfection. It encouraged each of us to be present in the moment.

Using photography for well-being, like the lens you shoot on, can zoom in and out of your personal narrative to expand its therapeutic benefit. While our own street photography prompts were self-directed, an interesting overlap with therapeutic photography naturally occurred.

“Therapeutic Photography aims to improve well-being, reduce social exclusion, and create positive change in the community.”?—?Shotkit

Conversation, connection, and social inclusion began, admittedly, you might start to talk to the people you’re walking alongside after 30 minutes. The activity itself invited you to look past barbed fences, litter, and boarded windows to see the beauty in its simple surroundings. That beauty extended to the strangers you walked alongside and the ones you passed.

The practice of mindfulness, art therapy, and photography comes in many forms, and it’s been around well before smartphones. Judy Weiser pioneered “PhotoTherapy” in the 1970s, and her highly referenced and well-regarded book “PhotoTherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums” published in 1999, helped expand this art therapy approach.

“PhotoTherapy techniques are therapy practices that use people’s personal snapshots, family albums, and pictures taken by others (and the feelings, thoughts, memories, and beliefs these photos evoke) as catalysts to deepen insight and enhance communication during their therapy or counseling sessions (conducted by trained mental health professionals), in ways not possible using words alone.”?—?PhotoTherapy Centre

There are so many beautiful community-based art practices like this one, hosted by Project Row Houses, and each one shapes the artist, audience, and community (like you dear reader) who engages with the work. I hope that next time you want to reconnect with yourself, others, or creativity, you find your way to mindfulness and art.

So how did my photos come out? Check out the black-and-white photos here, and let me know what arts-in-health modalities you want to learn more about in the comments below.