Monday, November 17, 2014

Photographic therapy


   Here’s a story how I came to photography.

I’m an attorney by profession. I’ve always preferred civil cases, but some of my clients were killers, robbers and other criminals. Some of them were normal people, (though it could seem strange), some are real scums.

In August 2013 I defended a young woman who have had another lawyer before me and have been put into a prison (she was a doctor and took a bribe). She had a one-year-old child with a serious illness and she was so young, so defenseless… Yes, she committed the crime, but it was too severe to put her into a prison for several years… When I presented my case in the court of appeal, the audience was crying... She received freedom… and then something changed in my life. My main feelings were feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, feeling of being overwhelmed, I had lack of energy… I was depressed. Or I became a victim of a job burnout. For me it was just the same things.

So it was August last year. In September I bought my first DSLR camera. And the photography has since become #1 for me.

I photographed the documents in criminal and civil cases and took elementary photos during vacations. So I began to read a lot of books on photography, began to listen lectures online.

Then I have read that it’s very useful to take part in a photography community and uploaded my photos at several sites where I found friends with the same passion – passion for photography. And I found that many of them have serious problems in their lives. There were people who lost their children, people who were entering a mid-life crisis, people who were injured in serious traffic accidents, individuals with disabilities, cancer survivors.

And all of them decide to get out of their circumstances and to introduce something creative into life. And it is the art of photography. It has become very therapeutic. It has given strength to think about things which are not related to pain (physical or mental), it has given dreams for the future, it has given a social interaction with other photographers, it gives the inspiration and motivation to live. Photography has become one of the most important aspects of their life.

Just don’t let the pain of any kind ruin your life. If you had a crappy day at work, if you feel awful all you have to do is to pick up your camera and start shooting to feel better. Seeing the world through your camera will make life feel wonderful again.

Photography is not always about being technically perfect; it’s more about emotions. If you feel something when viewing a photo, it is wonderful, no matter how or with what equipment it was taken. All you need is to do a better picture today then you were able to do yesterday and never quit.

  I have found that photography has been a great therapy for me as for many other people. It helps to see the beauty that is in world around us, to be grateful and to appreciate life.


  Thank you for reading! I would welcome any comments you would like to share.  

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