PHOTOGRAPHY AND WELL-BEING
Chris Michael
As a father, husband, mature student, home educator and carer of two incredible children with complex needs; I find that ‘me time’ is hard to come by. Getting out and escaping the day-to-day stresses of life doesn’t happen quite as often as I’d like. With this kind of chaotic lifestyle, I have to take my mental health extremely seriously and that is partly what drew me to landscape photography. Okay, the fact I’m obsessed with technology plays a huge part in this, but ultimately, it’s about doing something creative that takes me away from normality and into a different world where I can de-stress and beat my anxiety.
To me, landscape photography is much than just taking photos. It’s an opportunity for me to get out and explore places I’ve never seen (or heard of!) before. I have a rule to never go to the same place twice, so each time I venture out it is to somewhere new. From composing the shot to adjusting for exposure, photography enables me to zone out. It’s the perfect therapy for me. You can stand, admire, daydream all while keeping physically and mentally fit at the same time. Usually motivation is the hardest part, especially when mental health is poor and you’re waking up at stupid o’clock (4:30am) in order to avoid photo-bombed sunrise shots; but when thought of seeing something new and breath-taking brings a real sense of excitement, the motivation just seems to appear out of nowhere. To me, landscape photography isn’t about Instagram likes and impressing others. It’s not even about going out to get that killer shot. It’s all about me feeling good and capturing just how ‘great’ Great Britain really is.
This article first appeared in PRISMA, Issue 17.