Blog Post: Have Your Ever Noticed How Polite Your Photography Is?

Not polite in the way you speak...but polite in what you allow yourself to photograph

Maybe you hesitate before lifting the camera

Maybe you worry someone will think you are strange

Maybe you don't photography the peeling paint, the old hands, the abandoned buildings or the quiet moments because someone else might think they are boring or weird. 

Instead you photography what feels ..acceptable

A pretty sunset

A famous viewpoint

A photo for lots of likes

Not because that's what your curiosity wanted, but because it feels safer.

Where does that come from?

Many of us grew up learning how to be "good", I knew I did, I was always seen as the good girl. 

Taught to be polite, and thats a good thing of course as a child and as an adult

Don't make a fuss, don't answer back.

Think about other people feelings before your own. 

Those lessons can be valuable, because kindness matters.

But sometimes, they also teach us something else without noticing. ..

That our own instincts shouldn't be trusted...

That someone else's opinion carries more weight than our own. ..I know because this was me, my people pleasing came out rather abruptly after I found I was constantly tired, exhausted and always wanting to sleep. 

Then one day ... we pick up a camera!

And those old habits quietly come with us, and we wonder:

" Will people think this is a silly photo?"

" Am I allowed to photograph this?" ( this was always a question in my head..)

" What if they laugh?"

" What if it is not good enough?"

So we edit ourselves before we even press the shutter!

The camera doesn't create self-doubt though

It reveals it..

Photography asks us to notice, to choose, to say:

" This matters to me" 

For someone who has spent years looking for permission, that can feel surprisingly uncomfortable, it really can, and you can feel it in your body. 

A different way to photograph

What if your next walk wasn't about taking impressive photos?

What if it was about practicing trust?

Choosing one photo simply because something inside you whispered:

" I like that"

No explanation, no justification, no audience

Just you, learning to listen to yourself again.

Every time you choose a photo because it means something to you, instead of because it might impress

someone else, you are practicing self trust. 

As you head out with your camera this week, pause for a moment before you press the shutter and ask yourself:

" Am I taking this photo because I love it and can feel that connection in my body , or because I hope someone else will?"

Because perhaps photography isn't asking us to become more creative, perhaps its asking us to trust ourselves a little more. 

What would you change if your believed your way of seeing was already enough?

Mel