I am finding that photography not only triggers emotions in me, but that I can use this medium, deliberately, to affect how I feel.
Sometimes I need to calm down. To pause and consider. To breathe. During these moments digital photography will only wind my mind up all the more, and I’m certain that waiting for a Polaroid to develop would do me good but for the knowledge that I would find a failed image all the more distressing. These are the moments when I take out a twin-lens reflex camera.
Twin-lens reflex cameras (TLRs) – most of which are medium format cameras – differ from S LRs in that they have two lenses, one for viewing and one for actually taking the photo, placed one above the other, and a viewfinder on top that you look down into. This changes the entire process of composing an image compared to any other camera I use. Basically, a TLR moves differently.
I carry the camera – a Yashica – at waist level on a leather strap around my neck. This means that every movement I make, however little, as I look down into the viewfinder affects the composition of my image. Thus I am forced to be still and in control. Taking slow breaths. Making slow movements, carefully planned to improve my image, to shave off that unnecessary part, to straighten the horizon just that little bit.
When I get the resulting images back from the lab, usually weeks or even months later, they feel disconnected from the process of shooting. Thus my medium format meditation is more than anything else an exercise in being present in the moment, seeing and creating a visual image through the viewfinder just then and just there.
Whatever your emotional connection to photography is, I hope you savour it and explore it. Do you use it to cheer you up on a bad day? To connect with people? To reminisce? Tell us about it in the comments!
– All the best from Jenny.
I love the idea of having to be still and in the moment to connect with your TLR. I have never tried using one but this really makes me want to try.
I love to revisit an old photograph, perhaps enjoy seeing familiar faces when they were younger or places I visited and relive that moment for a brief time.
Lynn
I totally agree about revisiting old photographs, but I need to be in a good frame of mind to do so; it’s incredible how much power a photograph can hold and how nostalgic it can make me.
Photography helps me change my mood so often. When I feel overwhelmed in life, by whatever situation (and I have to admit, with three little ones the overwhelming happens more often than I’m proud of) I just have to remember to pick up my camera and look through my lens. Somehow it feels like the earth slows down at that moment, like there is some space created to breathe in, and the things that annoyed me moments before suddenly seem to be of an unexpected beauty. I feel lighter, wearing my heavy camera around my neck, it almost literally lifts me up.
Yes, exactly! You put it so well; the feeling of becoming lighter with a heavy camera around my neck is precisely it.
Totally nailed it. I have every made this connection, but you couldn’t have explained it better.
I too have a yashica, and I love the way if flips the world around and makes me really think about shooting.
I haven’t thought of it like that before, but flipping the world around is exactly what happens when shooting with a TLR 🙂
Every = never 😉
Jenny the shot of the shop window just about makes me swoon. Love it. I need to get myself a medium format camera to love 🙂
Do! 🙂 Terribly pricey to develop the film, but totally worth it as an occasional treat.
Jenny, I can relate perfectly to the feeling that photography acts as a mood changer/enhancer, although I haven’t ever used a med format camera. For me, photography is the most perfect form of meditation – time stops and concerns are forgotten, as I am lost in the moment. Whether shooting digital or Polaroid, I am a very “careful clicker”, working generally with a tripod and composing images slowly with much consideration. Often, I’ve seen a possible image while out walking, thought about what time of day would be best, lighting, composition….it can be a very deliberate process and one that I love! Thanks Jenny, for your insights!
It certainly shows in your images that you’re a deliberate shooter, Anna! I am working to become more deliberate when I shoot digital, for which shooting film like this is very good practice.
Oh this makes me want another camera…
Hahaha, camera lust! I know all about it 🙂 And I’m glad I can be the cause of it for once on this site; goodness knows the muses have had me wanting new cameras several times before 🙂
I love that TLRs really do change the way we see the world. And in a totally meditative way too.
Now that I think about it, I suspect that there are more things out there with the potential to change the way we see the world – we only need to discover them.
I love these sentiments Jenny and although I can’t relate with a medium-format camera, I experience something similar just in general when shooting. i don’t even look at what i’m shooting in digital when i’m just trying to relax and take a break. I’ve been wanting a medium format camera fo ra while now…this makes me want one even more!
You certainly need to join Meghan and Debra and come to the dark side that is medium format ^_^
totally love and relate to your words. thanks for posting this.
Thanks, Cara – I really appreciate you saying so!