Photography With Purpose

When we set out to make a photograph, it’s hard not to conjure up a set of pre-conceived notions about the kind of photograph we want to attempt.  We pre-visualize the end result, and in doing so, that Rolodex of images we have stored in our brain, images we may have seen before, blast their way into our mind’s eye.

So let’s start by defining what the term, “Photographing With Purpose,” does not mean.  It does not mean going out to capture a specific shot.  Photographing with purpose means living with purpose and when you do, the “right” images will find their way onto your sensor.

Over 50 years ago, Abraham Maslow developed the pyramid of self-actualization, and at the top of that pyramid was a sense of purpose.  We all find our own way to a purposeful life eventually - serving others, following those we admire, aligning ourselves with a sense of right, not identifying with the outcome, finding a way of staying present -“hauling water, chopping wood.”

So, in a odd twist, only when we stop looking for a purpose to our photography does the purpose in our photography find us. I think Minor White said it all when he said,  “No matter how slow the film, Spirit always stands still long enough for the photographer It has chosen.”

To photograph purposefully is to live purposefully.  This week's Muse exercise is to let go of the preconceived image, the end result, and just take pictures.