Photographic projections: Witnessing Beauty

Last Updated on August 1, 2016 by Patrick

As photographers or practitioners of photography we are confronted with the effort we face while doing our thing, while going out in the field to practice our passion. Time and time again, the efforts are huge but the rewards are balancing the scale on the other side so everything is in equilibrium. The gift we receive is: beauty.

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I admit, we are looking for beauty when we are photographing. Actually, beauty is within and the world is just the mirror of our own beauty, often ignored due to our focus on the empty part of the glass, so to speak. We were taught to look at the bad side of things and this is a habbit so deeply rooted in our minds that it is difficult to let go of. Anyways, if we recognize beauty it’s because we have it within us and we experienced it before. It is not enough to just experience it in the past, one must behold it within. Otherwise we can’t attract it no matter what. It is the universal law of affinity of vibrations. You attract what you are and what you have within. That is how it always works.

But anyway, enough with the philosophical talk and let’s focus on the efforts photographers make to get some shots worthy of their portfolios. Should we say that we made those shots? We had the raw material which was, say, the landscape we contemplated, but we only gave it our interpretation.

The physical efforts though, of climbing the mountains, of hiking long trails in the wild, in Nature, may be overwhelming at times but the gift is always the rewarding beauty which nurture us profoundly.

I was in the mountains again and I witnessed a spare moment of warmness of sunlight caressing the cliffs beyond the borders of the forests. A miniature moment tilt-shifted to change a bit the point of view of the climber. Not focusing on the physical effort is a better way of dealing with the unpleasant feeling it gave. Focusing on the revealed beauty, though, is the best way to motivate oneself to continue on the path. The rewards from above are priceless.