If there is one thing about photography that really speaks to me, is its inherent quality of catching a moment, a fleeting moment. It captures slices of time and makes them more permanent. The funny thing is that it does not only capture a moment, but it also gets the photographer into that moment. If you are trying to capture two speed skaters about to start their race, you really can't afford to think about your grocery list. You immerse yourself in that moment and in that moment you capture it on camera. It is totally different from my work as a soft sculpture artist. I work for 24, 36 or even 100 hours on one piece and my mind can just take off in those hours that I am crafting something new. It is much harder to stay in the here and now if you are hand-stitching something for hours. There is much repetition in a needle stabbing in and out of the fabric and there is no sense of immediacy. Art journaling is already a faster and more intuitive process, but there is plenty of time still to have battles with your inner critic who can at times be rather unfriendly.
If you are trying to capture a moment though, it becomes almost necessary to immerse yourself in that moment completely and being present to that "now" makes you feel so much more alive. It therefore changes your stories. The stories of woe that you may tell yourself or others have to change if you have taken 10000 pictures in one year of truly magical moments. I really think photography has made me appreciate life in general much more, because I have proof that my year existed of I don't know how many beautiful moments. Photography is my gate to mindful living, of being present in the here and now, which is after all the only place and time that life happens...
