32. Psychology and Photography

How these two work together in my process

N

Narcissister : Kate Snig and Larissa Angharada

The sun melted slowly into the horizon as I bobbed around on my surfboard. It was a mellow midsummer day with a small swell. I turned the board around and began paddling for the oncoming set. As I gained speed, the wave started to push me forward and I felt it’s energy rise beneath me. I popped up and crouched into a left turn. That moment when the side rails of the board sliced through the face of the wave and all you hear is “ssssssssssss” is bliss. Nothing matters and the feeling of riding nature’s energy is magical. I dropped down to the trough of the wave and shifted my weight slightly to climb the face. At the crest, I pushed down on the board and gained speed and dropped my left hand to skate the surface; to feel the water rush past. Like a child dipping the fingers into the water off the side of a boat to watch the water scatter behind their fingers. The wave broke behind me and I rose to stand and took the board over the crest and fell behind the wave. The burble in my ears as I sank below the salt water was loud and then stopped completely as my head cleared the surface. My last wave of the day.

I returned to my van parked on the cliff overlooking the beach and the sunset. Hanging my wetsuit up to dry and starting to cook dinner my life came back to buzz through my mind like an annoying mosquito. Having just gone through a painful breakup and the aching of knowing my mistakes, my behaviour that caused it. The ache of missing her. The memory of her smiling at me, her lips, her kiss, her touch.

Why do I start this entry here? At the age of 23? Because this is when I had an insight into my own consequences of who I was. This is when my work on myself began. This is when I started to unravel the complicated mess I thought I was. The journey has not stopped. Self-help books, counselling, returning to University to study Psychology, working with Social Services, hosting workshops, working in a Men’s Counselling center, going through addiction counselling, counselling others, co-producing an Understanding Anger workshop and teaching. It doesn’t stop.

Denial : Lana

The stigma of Mental Health is pervasive and a hinderance to people who just need help. My own way of trying to bring this to light and of using Psychology as concept for my photography came to happen when I was thinking of how to bring some originality to my work. By using some common and some uncommon understandings of characteristic traits to a visual audience has been very interesting.

As with any concept that begins as a thought or minds-eye vision, turning that into a visual representation is often challenging. Sometimes I know how to do it and find a model willing to shoot that concept. I also love working with the model to work with a concept they embody or find a challenge. Not everyone can shoot every idea. The believability of a shot is paramount in this concept. The advantage of this area of inspiration is that it is open to interpretation and covers a huge amount of subjects.

Nightcrawler : Meeka

I often see sorrow, anger or frustration in work by other photographers. Very often the description includes the importance of capturing emotion in photography is important. For me, I had a realization that to evoke emotion in the audience is far more important. That opened the door for visual representations of the human state. We are complicated and raw beings. Finding behavioral traits in a visual format is not easy but very interesting for me. It guides my culling process and my editing process.

Untitled : Lacey Dawn

Now, not all my work falls into that concept because I enjoy other types of photography too. The aim for my psychological concept work is to produce a book. It will feature a photo on one page and the written interpretation on the opposite page. A coffee table book really.

I have had this idea for a while now but it took time for me to find my style and for it to be good enough for me. I am a details person and somewhat of a perfectionist so this process has been a challenge. But I am getting there now. I include some images here I love in this conceptual realm.

What about you? Do you have any inspirational concepts you use? Are you working toward a goal or shooting for the love of it?

Thanks for reading and as always, I appreciate your setting aside the time. Take care and Happy Holidays!

Robin