Today I want to share an intimate part of why teaching photography is so important to me. If you’ve clicked around this site at all, or know me in person, you know I didn’t fall into photography or educating others by accident. Creating and sharing has been a part of me since I was little and what I built the foundation of my career on. However, the role that photography plays in my life has definitely evolved over the last decade, and for the better. From yearbook staff in high school, a fine art degree, to commercial work, and now, this. ‘This’ is using photography as a vehicle to live intentionally. Not the the only vehicle, but definitely a tool in my basket that helps keep me focused on the present. Much of art is more about the process than the final product, and in some cases that rings true for me with photography now, too.
What does living intentionally mean?
To me, living intentionally is pretty synonymous with living slow. To live for the life that is right in front of you, and try to enjoy the present. I am not an expert on this or mindfulness or anything similar. This is something I try to do because it makes me happier to do so. I am just a photographer and educator and mom who likes to be happy and see other people be happy. When I talk about photography and living intentionally, I mean two things. First, I mean that you look through your viewfinder with intention and actually look at what you are seeing. Second, I mean that you look through the viewfinder and slow down to then compose and expose a photograph. Approaching your camera with intention invites you to slow down.
Living busy
Becoming a mother changed me. I was busy, busy, busy until then. Swamped in business and education. Doing so many things at once and trying to reach all corners of the world. Not because I had to be, but because I wanted to be. I loved what I was doing, but I was exhausted.
Then I got pregnant, and that all went great. I felt like my normal self until the very end, and had a fortunately simple, natural delivery (don’t hate me, keep reading đ).
The first few months of motherhood hit me like a freight truck. I went from happy-go-lucky, laid-back, peaceful Megan to sleepless, irritable, anxious Megan. I didnât feel like myself, which was even more frustrating. I was struggling to find the joy that used to come so easily to me.
It wasnât motherhood that made me joyless, it was truthfully that I finally had a reason to pay attention to the time slipping through my fingers. I was anxious about how time quickly was passing, how I knew not sleeping enough meant I wouldnât remember any of this. All I wanted was for time to stop for just a little bit, so I could focus on the life unfolding in front of me (and catch a nap).
The ah-ha moment
Then one day, a few weeks into all kinds of breastfeeding troubles and tears and sleepless nights, I remembered being in the hospital.
I remembered climbing up on a chair after delivery to take my first photo of Emme, wrapped in a swaddle and laid in her bassinet. It is the one moment I really remember vividly. The one moment where time stood still in a very blurry 48 hrs.
So, I decided to pick up my camera again. I picked it up again, and again, and again, whenever I felt like I needed to find solid ground.
Looking through that viewfinder with more intention changed everything! Now, it didn’t make me sleep any more (the only thing that fixed that was takingcarababies.com #unsponsored). But it did help bring back to the present. To take each day one day at a time, and be laser focused on the life before me.â
I needed to pick my camera up. To slowly turn it on, look through my viewfinder, and only think about what was in front of me. This little girl that I was so lucky to have.â This life worth not sleeping for.â To really see it, and then slowly create a photograph of it.
It was like being back in college with my film camera, when I took photos with lots of intention, and to say something. I am so glad that motherhood helped me find my way back to that, just in a new way.
Why I share this message
I know that this idea sounds a cheesy, and it may be the opposite of how you have experienced photography so far, but I want to show you what photography can be. Instead of just a photoshoot once a year with your family photographer that takes 1,000 photos in an hour (yes, that used to be me, haha), let it be slow, quiet moments where you are intentionally capturing something at home that makes you SO happy! When you pull your camera out in general, be intentional. Take the time to compose your image beautifully, and of course, expose it properly. Decide whether this is even a moment you need to photograph.
Motherhood is a natural community because we have so many shared experiences and often help each other navigate these experiences. I would be doing a disservice to my fellow mamas if I didn’t share what I know photography and art making practices can be in your life.
How photography can help you live more intentionally
Most people use digital photography now instead of film, and our smartphones have made it a very automatic and easy process. This is why we don’t think of photography as a practice in mindfulness. We are used to whipping our phones out and snapping a dozen quick shots or having a photographer run around and take sooo many photos of us in a set amount of time. But it doesn’t have to be like that! Imagine if you pulled your camera out when you wanted to pull yourself back to the present. Or imagine pulling your phone out, and taking one or two great, carefully composed images instead of 30 mindless ones that just sit in your camera roll.
If you like the sound of this, or even if you are just thinking, “dang, I need to pull my big-girl camera out one of these days,” LOOK NO FURTHER! If you need to learn how to use your phone with more intention, click here to download the pretty phone photos guide. If you have a DSLR collecting dust, or that you’ve tired to figure out how to use without success, you may be interested in my course, Manual Mode for Moms. It’s the culmination of my life’s work as a photographer, art educator, and instructional designer. It is only open for enrollment a few times a year so if you are interested, click here to learn more!