The Bodily Sensation of Photography

What’s poppin, people? It’s Dante. I’m currently here in Fairmount Park, enjoying the forest. Beautiful day. Got the sun, got the rays.

I’m just listening to the sounds of the creek—this beautiful, beautiful stream. Snow on the ground. And yeah, I think today’s thought is about the bodily sensation of photography.

The feeling of the sun on my skin. The cold, crisp breath. Trees. The snow beneath my feet. Observing the way the snow is falling off the trees, and the way the light peers upon different surfaces and things. Listening to the sounds of the birds chirping. The feeling of moving your body through the world is ultimately, for me, the pleasure of photography.

It’s the physical experience.

Of course, I’m observant and I’m looking at things, but the feeling I get is much more interesting to me. I think what is amazing about photography is that it really grounds you in the present. I find that to be the ultimate gift in life—simply having the ability to be still, to be, and to allow life to flow toward me.

I’m just kind of there, prepared with my camera, ready to click the shutter on whatever it is that I find.

The goal with me and my photography is simple: to increase my curiosity, to remain in a flow state of making more pictures, and to fulfill the goal within itself through clicking the shutter. For me, photography is merely life affirmation.

I don’t really care about the outcome—whether or not the photo I make is good or bad, or impactful to a viewer. For me, the bodily sensation and the feeling I get when I click the shutter is the goal within itself. That sensation of bliss when the sun kisses my skin. When my instinct tells me to march down the hill and explore the forest.

I’m still. I observe. I’m present. I enjoy the simple things—this beautiful stream and the sounds it provides, the sights, the smells.

There is something to be said about photography and disregarding the notion of the photograph itself, or the impact a photograph can have. Instead, it’s about experiencing the present moment and fulfilling the goal of your photographic practice within the act itself—within exploration, within experience.

This is why I love photography.

It gives me an excuse to go out there. To see things. To experience things. To be present.

We have a past. We have a future. But these things aren’t really of my concern. My concern is waking up with curiosity each day and marching onward and upward.

Up the hill I go.