Friday 31 January 2014

Quiet Focus


My sister and a good friend of mine use baking as a stress relief. I tend to find the eating of their goodies to be MY stress relief! Why baking? I think it's got to do with the focus, the concentration on something, and blocking out the rest of the world in the process.

I  find my true Quiet in nature,  escaping entirely from the noisy busy world. That's Quiet that surrounds you. As a teen, I used to go for long walks with my dogs, in the hills above the small town where I lived. Otherwise, every opportunity I had, I'd get to the beach. That soothing rhythm of the crashing waves always cleared my soul, and brought me back to base.

But when you cannot surround yourself entirely with that kind of soothing quiet, where is your Quiet then? One way of finding it, is doing what my baking companions do: block out your surroundings and focus on something. Whether it be reading a book, or meditating, or writing down your dreams on a scrap of paper - so blocking out the world around you and turning your focus somewhere specific is another way of finding Quiet.

I've realised that, that's what I do behind the camera. I go into this zone, where I am able to block out all the noise and just focus on the image. Sorry girls, were you talking to me?
(When I'm shooting for a client I actually have to constantly remind myself to communicate with them, smile, and include them in my world! :) )

So, when you're communicating visually, how do you get that soul-cleansing, focussed QUIET into your images?  How do you block your ears to the rest of the world in a visual way?
It's the same thing isn't it? Blocking out the rest of the world and focussing on one thing. Isolating your subject from all the noise around them. Making them stand out.

With the camera that often means aperture. Take down your aperture, blur the irrelevant part and you're left with the essence - that Quiet Focus. (See Insider Tips )

It can be a noisy kids party, but you blur everyone except the birthday girl, and for a second you're able to isolate her moment, feel her inner voice. It's magical isn't it?

How do you block out the rest of the world? Where do you find your Quiet Focus? Do you have some Quiet images you've taken that you'd like to share?
Write to me in the comments below.




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In the absence of a beach, doesn't a walk deep in the forest work?

Anonymous said...

What a friend of mine and I used to do .... when we were MUCH younger ... was to ride our bicycles around town and find the most interesting little neigbourhood parks. That would be enough of a quiet for us. Just to get away from our usual routine - pack a sandwich and a juice box and travel.... That's enough when you're twelve!