To play means to trust oneself in a manner of speaking. Let go of expectations and explore away. Photography for me when I was younger was play- serious play. I am drawn to emotions, colors, textures, creating stories, and reflecting the best in people. Photography creates a million stories without words and to each person it could mean something different. How someone is photograph matters. What does this have to do with play? Because when we take time to play to remember our passions, we keep the positives going. We look for something more than just every day things. Play allows us to remember the good.
Play allows for rest & restoration.
I remember in my high school and my collage years I did film photography. It took me a long time to get use to digital. In fact, there were times I dislike it in the beginning. Felt like I was taking the easy way out, that I was missing out on something. There’s some truth to that. My old film camera is now broken, however lessons taught to me are not forgotten. You see- I wasn’t afraid to take chances and…I took my time in setting up the shot. My own money was spent…getting the rolls of film (in case you’re ever curious I LOVE the positive film), sent it off for development, and then and only then I saw what I photographed. I won’t lie- I was horrid. But at that point I didn’t care. Because I saw something there and it made me want to get better, it was play to me. Little by little, I got better.
My mom was the one who inspired me. Whenever she got the camera out it became a symbol to me that I recently remembered. We were playing most of the time, sometimes it was special occasions, the few and far trips of vacations….but mostly we were playing and living life. She photographed the times that made us happy, the times she wanted a memory preserved, and sometimes she photographed because she didn’t want us to forget.
Play in photography, good play in life is important.
I read once… “You learn more about a person in an hour of play than a year of conversations.” I’ve discovered that to be true…watch kids on the playground and see how easily they can make friends or someone on a basketball court. Play helps us be thankful as well.
It’s not been easy to play especially in this season. Yet, I’ve discovered the more I take time to play even in my business to enjoy what I do things comes a little more easily to me. Work with heart is done in a lighter way. Creative ideas flows and I find myself expanding a little more in many aspect of life. More importantly, I have laughed more, relationships are knitted stronger, and rest (not always waiting tv) comes in different forms for me. It all started with this month of saying “YES” to a playful mindset.