Visually Selfish

I see my photographs before I release the shutter, and as you know, being a visual artist is not just a profession, but a lifestyle. It is near impossible to switch off that explorative eye. It follows you around wherever you go, and while this makes for great creative works, it is nice at times to not have the tools of your medium in the way, to enjoy the odd little moments and keep them to yourself.

Being visually creative is like another language. Musicians would likely understand with their language of sound and vibration. To me, it is like a constant internal conversation. However, words are not necessary. I see, I feel, and I capture. The challenge is to capture what I feel, and for it to look the same on the camera as what I see in my head. Much like a stutter, it can be hard to get it just right, but when it finally happens, when I get that shot, it is a grand feeling of satisfaction and relief. Imagine the demon and angel on your shoulder, arguing to and fro, to reach a conclusion. In the same way, that is my visual nature fighting with my practical skills until I reach a perfect medium, resonating in the image.

To those people out there creating, recording and exploring, sit down, shut up, and shut your eyes for a minute! (And kindly re-open to continue reading...)

What do you see?

The imprint of the room that surrounds you? The stain on the floor you just walked past? The art piece you’ve been working on? The harrowing face of a person on the tube this morning? The mashup of concepts your boss presented to you? The fresh, clear, winter sky? One thing is for certain. You are "seeing" something even though your eyes are shut. Your visual nature does not shut off. Yes, we get a dance of colourful shapes on the underside of our eyelids but we do not simply forget or shut down our visual senses and stimuli of the day.

Meditation is a way to relax the mind, to bring focus into the "here and now" to help us identify ourselves with our presence of being, in an attempt to shut down outside influences. Nevertheless, I still find my mind wandering off. The visuals of my imagination do not rest. Meditators leading me to think of a calm tranquil scene may succeed for a second, but I can’t help trail off. Perhaps a familiar face appears on the beach, adapting the scene into a weird adventure and I start laughing internally to myself as I lead further and further away from "calm" and eventually back into my everyday stresses. Thus, totally forgetting the objective at hand. It is hard to reign it all in, and as Visual artists, this is not a negative for us! We need to embrace our ability to see the world as we do, in our uniqueness. This is truly a gift! And yet, we can become slaves to it or more specifically, to our medium. Whether it is photography, design, sculpture, or drawing, etc., we can lose the integrity of our inspirations and purpose. We end up spending our lives capturing what we see and create to entertain the thoughts of others. However, let’s allow ourselves to have our own little times of solitude, embracing our visually creative minds, one on one, in our own adapted meditation. Put down the camera, brush, graphics pen, or ignore the nag to record and share everything. Do not be a slave to your medium. Instead, own it. Savour a moment without any distraction, keep it to yourself, enjoy it, and let it pass.

I dare you...