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Photography Is the Art of Noticing
What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante, currently walking around Penn’s Landing here in Philadelphia. Check it out—the Delaware River.
Today I’m just thinking about photography as a way to pay attention and the power of presence.
When you’re in the moment and you’re photographing, you exist outside the passage of time.
We have a past. We have a future. But these things aren’t of our concern.
When you’re photographing and moving your body, enjoying the sights, the sounds, and the smells of the street, you exist in the eternal now.
And this, to me, is where bliss is found.
Photography as an Act of Gratitude
I think it’s such a simple way to think about photography because it gives you that excuse to look at everything deeply and to just show appreciation for life.
I treat photography as an act of gratitude for life.
I treat it as a way for me to say yes to life.
Thank you, God, for this day.
What’s on display in the photographs I make is a direct reflection of that internal state of me simply saying thank you, of me simply saying yes.
Photography is a way for me to say yes to life.
It really is a powerful thing because when you go beyond the imagery and recognize that photography is a way for you to be engaged with your reality, you can find infinite ways to find meaning in life generally.
Outside of the imagery, it feels like every moment is beautiful and meaningful with a camera in hand.
For this, I’m eternally grateful for photography.
Create Your Own World
Through the act of making pictures, the outcome—the output of the images—becomes your own world.
I think it’s a very powerful thing to have something like photography that gives you this superpower of creating your own world, of creating your own way of expression.
And I feel like that sort of act of expression from presence is maybe the purest form of artistic expression.
Because with photography, you can’t really control much of anything.
You’re only really in control of walking, observing, positioning your body, and clicking the shutter at something that catches your eye.
It’s a very simple medium, frankly.
Nowadays, we have compact cameras that you can put into automatic mode. You don’t have to do anything to the photos. You can get a file straight out of camera that looks beautiful.
Anyone can practice photography.
Anyone can engage with this gift of presence in their everyday reality.
And I just think it’s so empowering.
The Art of Noticing
If people start to frame the way they think about photography this way—as an act of being present—then I think you can pretty much overcome anything that life throws toward you externally.
Of course, this is nuanced, and I’m not saying I’m impossible to destroy.
But it feels like there’s nothing that can break my spirit or my love for life because when I notice that I have this camera with me, I notice everything.
It’s the art of noticing and presence that brings life meaning.
I essentially treat every day like it could be my last and every photograph like it could be my last.
Each click of the shutter is me simply almost combating against that inevitable mortality that we’re all going to face one day.
And it puts me in this place where everything becomes play.
Photography becomes effortless and easy because I’m orienting the way in which I engage with the medium through an act of gratitude and presence.
This fulfills me with purpose.
A Place Where Time Doesn’t Exist
I just wish that other people, and whoever is on the other side listening to this and watching this video, can also find this sort of place of peace.
This place where time doesn’t exist.
There’s only you and, essentially, the moment.
I really find the art of photography to be beyond the imagery.
It’s the act of noticing.
And he who is most present and most engaged will then make those stronger frames.
So when you think about the outcome of making a great frame, actually just reorient the way that you engage with the day through presence and gratitude.
From there, I think the photos, the moments, everything will simply flow to you.
Stop Hunting for Photographs
I’m no longer striving or seeking or trying to find anything through hunting and being out with my camera.
I’m simply allowing life to deliver these gifts to me.
And then when I find these gifts, I simply say thank you and yes, and move on to the next.
I’m simply allowing life to deliver these gifts to me.
I think that this is the best way to engage with the day generally, despite photography.
In this modern world, we have so many distractions.
There’s so much news to consume. There’s so much endless media that you can be watching. Lots of things nowadays are distracting.
Photography becomes this way to combat against that.
For that, I’m extremely grateful.
Just Start Living
I find power in my day, in my everyday life, because photography gives me this sense of agency to just start living.
Just start being.
And then from that place where you’re simply being, observing, receptive, and sensitive to everything, that’s where you’ll start to cultivate your own authentic expression as a photographer.
It requires this sort of mindset shift and this way of trying to eliminate distractions and focus on the moment.
When you’re in that moment and you’re photographing, you find bliss, you find joy, and you find yourself making your own world.
Being able to step into that world becomes like a superpower to combat against anything that the external world throws at you.
As long as I have my camera and some curiosity, it feels like nothing can stop me.
That’s the simple thought of the day.
Thanks for watching.
Bye.
DANTE SISOFO · · dantesisofo.com/photography-is-the-art-of-noticing/
