“Mistakes are the portals of discovery.”
— James Joyce
Dear Friends,
So much has been written lately about the well-being benefits of engaging with the arts. Whether it’s attending a concert or a museum, or making your own art, spending time with creative expression has been shown to enhance well-being in countless ways. But what is the essential ingredient that really makes the difference?
We think the crucial elements are curiosity and creativity. After all, look at the curiosity of a young child – it is boundless. And creativity? Just watch a young child with a box of bricks. This need to follow our curiosity and lean into our creativity is life giving. It fuels and sustains an interest in life that add up to happiness at any age. And it forms the foundation of what psychologist Shige Oishi calls the Rich Life: a life steeped in variety, exploration, and wonder.
What does this have to do with photography, you ask?
One memorable day, I met my hero: Michael Kenna, arguably one of the world’s greatest photographers. I met him at the opening of his new show in NYC and had a few precious minutes to ask him the burning question: “What advice would you give to a beginning photographer?”
His advice was simple:
“Follow you curiosity. If something catches your eye, keep shooting every angle. Find what it is that calls to you.”
Follow your curiosity. Indeed.
And then what? Often we get home excited to upload our photos and sadly see nothing that really lights the spark. What do we do then?
This happened to me a few weeks ago: We were on a road trip to photograph wild horses. I imagined herds of horses racing across the sand, in and out of the ocean.
Well, it didn’t happen that way. Probably for the best – did I really want to replicate another person’s art? That would have been easy. My task was more difficult – I had to come up with my own.
Nothing went as planned – it was cold and we were in an open jeep flying across the beach at 35mph, cold and wet. There were no horses but there was plenty of construction – mega mansions being built to rent out in the summer months. We started to weave through the construction on dirt roads – not what I had had in mind and vaguely depressing. We did see a few horses in amongst a half-built house but I felt sad and let down. I was not eager to upload.
I did upload and what happened next was inspiring. I started looking at the first photos I had taken on the trip – they were out of focus, overexposed, views from my window of dolphins in the ocean. I had been excited when I woke and saw them. I had grabbed my camera and snapped without attending to the settings – overexposed and out of focus and colorless.
But….they were strangely interesting and set me thinking.
I opened the horse photos and wondered….black and white and out of focus and over exposed? What could happen? I started to edit and as I did, I got excited – the photos looked good and not only that but they fit the history of these horses. No one really knows where they came from – Spanish mustangs off the coast of the US – and they are hard to find. I called them “Phantom Horses” and put together the ten best images. Take a look. I love them – you may not but that’s not the point really. I followed my curiosity and stayed with it through a few dark moments to find the spark that produced these images. The process inspired me and made me happy.
Here’s to finding joy, even when the focus feels off.
-Mandy
