“Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Being a photographer, you will, at some point, be faced with another photographers work. Whether thats through social media or entering competitions, going to a gallery or reading a photography book, you will be inspired by anothers work.

One thing I noticed as we visited galleries in Europe is the story of the artist, they mention who inspired them, whether it was another photographer, painter or a poem, a sculpture, something modern that captured your attention or something in nature like patterns of a decaying leaf, iced water patterns, lines in the rocks on the beach, the list is varied and far reaching.

We tend to lose connection to our own inspiration when we follow the crowd.

The crowd is loud on social media.

It shouts at us for likes, approval, for recognition, because if we don't...well ...we feel less than, we worry that no one likes our work, in turn that driving us to change our minds about it and we just end up trying to please others.

In pleasing others we lose connection to our inner landscape

It can become a daily reminder to pare away the desire to conform, and to tune into our inner voice.

Maybe these simple daily reminders can help, as they helped me :

1. Slow down

You've probably heard this one before, and maybe found it totally B-O-R-I-N-G!

If thats you, and you are always rushing to post your photos, to get the likes, to feel unsure about what to take a photos of so you always go to the most popular places to get your shots, then slowing down is something to embrace.

But rather than trying to force it, take a look further back into your life, when you were a kid. Were you always rushing around then? Were your parents/teachers always busy?

Did you have lots of responsibilities as a child?

Were you expected to have good grades at school? Were you always trying to " do better" ?

Finding it hard to slow down can come from learned behaviours as a child instead of beating ourselves up and thinking bits something we are doing wrong now. It helps us to understand ourselves, have empathy, be kinder, find the gaps, the space and practice slowing down.

This is a good place to start...orienting.

If you've read my other blog posts or bought one of my courses you will know about my love of orienting but it can be disregarded because of its simplicity. But theres a lot going on underneath.

Click here to practice one of my video lessons on orienting.

2. Like Yourself

When we compare ourselves to others, we tend to beat ourselves up.

Why aren't I like that?

Why aren't I that talented?

Why can't I see images like that?

When we fall into this trap, we just feel lost, losing trust in our decisions, and lose touch of who we are.

Liking yourself can be hard to do when we have, maybe come from a childhood of not being heard. Of trying to do our best and it wasn't good enough.

You can begin to see who you spend your time with. Toxic or dysfunctional relationships keep us in a state of dysregulation.

Choose who you surround yourself with. Do they support you? Do they listen?

Do some movement that you actually like instead of thinking you should be exercising to change your shape. Move for your health.

Move for kindness, self awareness. Do it for yourself.

3. Flow

Create, draw, do what you like to do, what makes time go past quickly. What makes your heart sing?

What have you put off practicing because you are scared or worried that you will fail or no one will like it?

A few years ago I wanted to practice Cyanotypes. I eventually found a place and a time to do this, and loved it. Then I practiced doing them very differently with salt, lemon juice, bicarb, spices...and no deep blues. I liked that way of doing them as they were different, abstract, and felt more in touch with the elements, with the earth. When I am playing with these Cyanotypes, I am totally lost in myself, time just goes. Flow is a very underrated thing!

I recommend reading this: Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Its a book that can open doorways in your mind into inner experiences that make life worthwhile.

Flow - a state of concentration and complete absorption.

4. Listen.

When we live in our heads we lose track of what makes us sing. We lose connection to our bodies. When we are stressed , anxious, worried, fearful or what others think of us and our work, we store that up in our jaw, shoulders, hands, pelvic floor, diaphragm, toes.

We lose the connection to our bodies.

We stop feeling.

When I have visited galleries and seen many works by older established artists like Mondrian, Jackson Pollack, Paul Klee, I listen to where I feel the connection to their work.

In my feet

In my breathing

In my heart

In my hands

It changes from piece to piece

You are looking for your work to speak to the viewer in their own way, bringing with it their experiences, their emotions, what they have been though, how you are speaking to them.

When we get lost in not being true to ourselves, our work can appear soulless, lifeless, not part of us.

Listening to the body for me was a huge step in understanding my past traumas, how to befriend myself, and in doing so I fell back in love with photography and the whole story of it and its many different pathways. Mono, multiple exposure, intentional camera movement, cyanotypes...the list goes on, we are only limiting ourselves by our self imposed glass ceiling.

The body is the mind, the brain is an end organ. My little courses could help you as they helped me, heres a list of them : My Courses.

Above all, no matter what chaos there is in your life, you can find a small daily pit stop routine to take a small break for yourself.

Something you love doing, each day, it doesnt have to be a big thing, each day, in your daily pit stop, to recharge yourself.

Happy Practicing!

Mel Collie