The Power of Positive Thought

What if you looked at your images as if every one of them were absolutely amazing? If you said things to yourself such as, “Wow. That hard light. I nailed it.” Or, “My composition here rocks.” Or even, “I have captured something no one else in the history of photography ever has before. I’m a trailblazer. A beacon of light. A safe haven for all who seek shelter in my creativity.” If you said those things to yourself, you would unlock the power of positive thought.

 

Potential ego checks aside, saying positive things to ourselves can present a challenge. And although the beacon of light example might be a tad extreme, let’s look at why it’s so important to simply—be kind. Think of kindness like a piece of gear you can keep in your camera bag. A tool that will help you create, so to speak.

Photography is an art. It contains objective rules, however it also contains subjective beauty. Therefore, every artist will attack and embrace those rules and beauty in their own way.

Learn more about the “Language” of Photography with The Photo Narrative

Every single frame you capture is an expression of yourself. Even if you are a documentary photographer with a purist style, you will still embed parts of your own voice and vision into each photo. No lens can truly equal the human eye. Therefore, something as simple as your lens choice can affect how you choose to tell the story. A 50 mm prime is said to be the closest equivalent to what we see without our cameras. However, even that tidy lens holds so much room for maneuvering your frame. You have aperture choice, ISO, point of view, and of course shutter speed to adjust. This means even the most simple click of the shutter has conscious choices behind it.

 

And when we accept that each image we create was created with the eye of an artist, with intent and choice and emotion, it becomes clear that each image is pretty special. And special things deserve to be celebrated.

Let’s play a little game. Here’s an image of my son, holding a sled. I’m going to read this image in two ways.

 

I love how I framed this. I practiced the “crop in camera” technique, where I composed my image how I wanted it, without relying on an editing program to crop it later. As a result, I have almost no pixel loss. Awesome. Additionally, I love the bright red rails on the sled. It’s beautiful how they stand out. I also love how I captured the gorgeous, soft falling snow. I love how my son looks like what he is, a teenager, and I can see how much he’s grown up. I’m proud of my exposure and the skin tones, which I checked fall within the perfect range. Finally, I love the joy this photo brings me, of time well spent in the outdoors. It’s an awesome capture of an awesome memory!

Check out these great courses:
Mastering Skin Tones
Composition for Storytellers
Minutiae – Documenting Life’s Details

Pointing out the positive is so empowering.

But what if I said maybe the crop could have been better if I’d thought it through differently? Maybe we should be able to see his face, or his feet? And will people even believe that snow is real? Similarly, maybe people don’t think I’m good enough to capture snow like this. Would an overlay be better? Maybe nobody wants to see this. Maybe photos with younger kids holding sleds are cuter. Perhaps I should have had mountains behind him. If only I had waited for golden hour, when it was still snowing these huge beautiful flakes, and yet also the sun was shining and he was soaring downhill on the sled while a herd of reindeer wandered past in the middle distance—then, my photo would hold that same magic I see so effortlessly captured by every other photographer on the planet but me.

There are endless ways to tear our photos, and crucially, ourselves apart.

Some self-critique is healthy. Important even. But it needs to be balanced with positive energy. Otherwise, what’s the point of creating art? What’s going to make you want to pick up that camera if you don’t believe in yourself? Additionally, what’s going to give you that creative freedom to learn and grow if you don’t give yourself even the bare minimum of praise?

 

Did you have a better feeling from reading my first, positive, critique? Where I listed all the good things I saw in that sled photo? Where I let the light of kindness shine? I bet you did. Words have strength. Even words we don’t say aloud. Words in our heads carry outsized weight and control over what, and therefore, HOW we see.

When all you see about yourself, and say to yourself, is negative, there is no room left for kindness.

Being kind sounds like such a simple thing. It’s a small word. Just one syllable. It’s a word often overshadowed by its antonym, cruelty. For example, could you create, could you even think in an environment where all you hear are words that pressure you to stop? To freeze? To fear? Do you hesitate on your shutter speed choice because you think of how someone else captured movement better than you think you can. Will you avoid a location because there couldn’t possibly be anything new you’d see that hasn’t been seen by countless, more talented others. Did you look at that flower, that flat-lay, that foreground and it all blurs together and gets in your way and you can’t see through to the image you want to create because you’re not letting yourself believe that you can.

Those thoughts aren’t kind. In fact, they’re cruel. They’re incapacitating. Above all, they’re useless.

 

This is a snow-cube my son built. We named him Mr. Cubes. My son lugged him all the way across the field and didn’t drop him. He left him on this picnic table to greet others as they came to the park.

Imagine if you carried your own Mr. Cubes around in your head. A happy little voice that said things like, “Hey, you’re doing great! You picked up your camera today and you know so much about it! Oh, you’re shooting wide open? Good choice! You’re out in the rain? Good choice! You’re cozy at home? Good choice! You’re using a prism? Good choice! You’re not using a prism? Good choice! I can’t wait to see what you create.”

Isn’t that freeing? Unlocking the power of positive thought is just another technique you can toss into your camera bag. Think of it like a piece of gear. Keep it clean. Use it well. And it will reward you in kind. In other words, be kind to yourself and you’ll be rewarded by the power of positive thought.

For more inspiration, follow Melissa on Instagram!