It’s ok to crave connection. We are created for community. We heal and grow in healthy relationship.
Created For Connection – A Pair Of Fall Leaves, Nikon FE, Fuji Superia 400, Developed At Home
Looking For Light – Borrow Hope, Shot On iPhone
When walking through the dark sometimes it’s necessary to borrow hope from others around us.
Documenting The Everyday – Summer Salad, Fuji Superia 400
Mundane tasks come alive when I am looking for light. Some freshly washed, garden grown, summer salad comes alive in the beautiful, golden sunset light.
Looking For Light – Illuminating Imperfection
Maybe we can still find light in imperfect places. Keep growing, no matter how it looks.
Looking For Light – Summer Sunset On The Porch, Fuji Superia 400
Sometimes it’s not possible to look up. That’s ok, sometimes we can also find light beautifully dancing at our feet.
Kids Were Here – Seasons Collide
A cheerful, yellow watering can right where the kids left it. Didn’t seem necessary with the current freezing cold weather that day when I spotted this outside. Taking the time to notice this silly situation helped to bring a little light into my day which was filled with difficult moments and anxiety.
What is therapeutic photography?
Therapeutic photography—maybe that sounds like a strange or unfamiliar term. Over time I’ve come to realize that I believe this is an accurate description of the type of photography I personally practice. What is therapeutic photography? Let’s take a quick look in the dictionary.
Defining Therapeutic
Here is one of the basic meanings of the word therapeutic: Therapeutic-having a beneficial effect on the body or mind (merriam-webster.com). Something that is therapeutic has benefits for both our body and mind. So let’s bring it together.
Bringing Them Together
When we join photography with therapeutic benefits we have an amazing tool for so many aspects of well-being, health, wellness and growth. This can apply to physical, mental, spiritual, emotional health—and maybe even more areas that I have not yet thought of.
What Does It Look Like?
Personally, I believe this can look many different ways to different individuals. For me, engaging in therapeutic photography helps me to be aware of my surroundings, noticing and appreciating what is around me. It’s a way to stay in the present moment. Practically this means using my DSLR, one of my 35mm film SLR’s or sometimes my phone to capture natural moments that I observe around me or my self and what I feel and notice within my mind, body and/or soul. I also utilize my computer and Lightroom for photo editing as well as learning the process and developing my own 35mm color film at home. These therapeutic practices can lead to the benefits of connections to myself, other people, nature, God, ideas, feelings, my surroundings and more. It can get me observing, moving and doing a host of things that benefit my physical and mental health.
For other people therapeutic photography could look completely different. I think that is the beautiful and amazing thing—therapeutic photography is completely adaptable to each of us and our specific needs. What is therapeutic for me may have unpleasant effects for you so it’s good to know what is helpful and beneficial for each of us and to adjust a potential therapeutic photography practice accordingly to fit our individual needs.
This topic really excites and energizes me. Honestly, therapeutic photography has been so uplifting and life-giving for me and is a very special concept and practice for me. It has literally helped to save my life and gives me a creative outlet to express myself when I don’t have words to share.
I am considering writing more about therapeutic photography in the future. Is there anything related this topic that you would like to know or discuss? Do you practice therapeutic photography? If so, I’d love to hear about your process if that’s something you are open to sharing. Feel free to leave a comment or contact me here.
Broken
Trying to survive through the battle of the freezing cold, harmful, incredibly damaging storm. I am broken and somehow still holding on. God sustains me though I feel mostly dead. Trying to do my part, working, and waiting to thaw. He is faithful.
This photo was taken on a cold afternoon when I was struggling with high levels of anxiety. This is one of the things I saw that captured my attention, drew me in. I felt I could relate to the story of this scene in a very personal way. I noticed that being outside for at least an hour on that frigid afternoon helped to reset and neutralize how I was feeling. It didn’t erase the struggle but did help it feel more manageable.
Fallen Leaves on Film – Fuji Superia 400, Developed at Home
These photos were taken approximately November of 2020. It was a cold day and I went to a nearby wooded park to try to capture some of the beautiful autumn leaves. I was struggling a lot and experiencing intense anxiety and depression. I made an effort to try to focus on the process of seeing and taking in my surroundings while in the wooded area at the park, appropriately setting shutter speed and aperture, focusing my camera, winding and advancing the film frame by frame. I also brought my digital camera and alternated between using the two cameras. Part way through taking pictures my Nikon FE jammed up, I was not able to advance the film and when I looked through the viewfinder it was black and I couldn’t see through it which caused me some distress at the time. I am thankful this roll was not a complete loss due to my camera malfunctioning.
This was one of the rolls of film that I developed during my second time developing my own film at home. I was afraid that I may have lost all the images since my camera malfunctioned. It was a stressful and exciting process to try developing my film for the second time. I am thankful I persevered and did not give up. It was challenging and I definitely had to push myself as I felt very overwhelmed. Since this was the second time developing film at home it was a little less foreign feeling.
I see a lot of parallels to my own life with being fearful, anxious and scared of the unknown or trying new things. When I try to be kind to myself, put in the hard work and try to me mindful and learn in the process I often find that I manage to survive and even learn, grow and appreciate the end result.
It was amazing to take my reels of film out of the developing tank and see that there were images on the negatives. There don’t seem to be words to describe such a thrilling and exciting moment for me.
These images were taken with my Nikon FE and Nikon 35mm f/2 lens and developed at home using Unicolor chemistry. I scanned the negatives with my DSLR setup in my dark basement, imported the images of the negatives into Lightroom and used Negative Lab Pro to convert the negatives to positives. So many steps and such a fulfilling process with the reward of seeing the images in the end.
The first image is what I first saw when I opened my car door just before stepping onto the ground the day I went to the wooded park. It was a refreshing sight to see the raindrops on the fallen, brown leaf that was resting on top of the pile of leaves that coated the ground as I felt the chill of the cold, fall air and savored the moment.
The second image was a beautiful sight to me. It is captured just as I found it. I was struck by the small branch of green leaves with raindrops collected on top that stood out in contrast to the pile of dead, brown leaves that were lying in a thick layer over the ground. This natural sighting reminds me of choosing life and nourishment in the midst of death, decay, hardship, pain, and struggle.
How do these images speak to you? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Winter Sunset From The Passenger Seat
For the past 10 months we haven’t left home very often and I rarely take my camera when we do. This time I chose to bring my camera and was able to capture some images from my view in the passenger seat on the way home as the sun was setting.
Amanda Creamer Photography 