The Healing Power of Photography

Last year while in Vietnam attending a Universal Medicine Retreat I had the wonderful opportunity to have my photo taken by photographer Matt Paul for my website. I had mixed feelings about the photo shoot. Part of me was excited and another part of me felt nervous.

I realised that some of that nervousness was attributed to a reluctance or perhaps hesitation to being ‘seen’ and really putting myself out there.

This may sound odd because obviously anyone with eyes can see me, but this photo shoot symbolised my intention to show up in full, in my vulnerability, and well, all my beauty!

It also served as a stop moment, a pause as such to appreciate how far I have come and to celebrate what’s ahead.

While there was certainly some background noise of annoying thoughts such as ahhh what are people going to think, will they judge me etc., I was too committed to the experience to let those sabotaging thoughts win.

Enter Matt Paul. I met Matt some years ago, however have only in the last few years had the blessing of getting to know him. From the moment you meet Matt he embraces and accepts every single cell of you. Matt’s openness, humbleness, joy, humour and absolute loveliness totally melts you and instills a deep sense of trust and care.

I can’t pass without mentioning his stunning new wife Ulrike (and assistant on the day) who similar to Matt embodies a love for all and when you look into her eyes you can’t but see the light of heavenly stars and a wisdom to match. They are both such a delight to be around, a powerhouse couple not to mention an inspiration to many.

What are the real reasons why so many of us don't enjoy having our photo taken?

I’ve always found it interesting how it’s a fairly common conversation to hear people say that they don’t like their photo being taken.

What does this mean exactly?

Is it that we don’t like the way the photo turns out, we don’t like the way we look, or that we don’t like the way seeing the photo of ourselves makes us feel?

Or perhaps the thought of knowing our photo is being taken precipitates a tension in our body that shows through in the photo, and so its this unease that emanates through which we judge?

To take it a step further, could it also be that what we see and feel in the photo is the end result of how we have been choosing to live, an accumulation of our choices up until that point, and quite frankly that can be pretty uncomfortable to come to terms with!

Either way, we tend to have an inbuilt self-bashing barometer that has a field day to dampen and often extinguish altogether our natural abundance of joy, sass and appreciation.

Photos on the streets of Hoi An

When we got underway in the bustling and beautiful streets of Hoi An, I could feel a slight tension, say awkwardness and self-conscious way about myself. To have someone so focused on me made me feel quite sensitive and aware of how I was feeling and holding myself. I found myself wondering if it could be as simple as just being there with them, without having to perform, please and dare I say, just have fun?

I was already running with the belief that I didn’t like my photo being taken but this was soon about to change.

I started to realise that the (healing) session wasn’t just about taking photos, it was showing me where I measure in life, calibrate to suit others and where I lessen myself so as to not ruffle any feathers.

It was also revealing to me where I choose to hide, stay small and not wanting to stand out or shine. Ouch!

However, none of these patterns or harmful thoughts could dominate while working with Matt and Ulrike, and with the connection and quality they offer, any self-consciousness or tension I was feeling got blown away and pretty quickly I might add.

We were about 30 minutes into the photo shoot when I erupted into a fit of giggles and proclaimed that I think I may actually LOVE my photo being taken after all!!

This was a revelation to me.

The stories and spin we can put on life and our experience of it really is quite masterful and debilitating (I wonder what else I lie to myself about?).

Masterful in that there is a part of me that has perfectly worked out how to keep the broken record playing, the self-judgment, dulling . . . and the list goes on.

If life can change that much in 30 minutes, I wonder what else is possible?

The beauty of working with Matt is that he allows you to be yourself. He has the magical ability to bring you out of any shell you may choose to be hiding in. And seriously who wants to be a hermit crab anyway? Moving through life trading one shell for yet a bigger shell just so you can hide some more! We are divinely designed to stand out and feel comfortable in our own skin. It is also possible to feel equally at ease being completely transparent and letting another see our beauty.

This experience taught me a lot, but mostly that the limits I place on myself by choosing to listen to a critical inner dialogue, is nothing more than a manipulative game to keep me in the mindset of who I am not. Does this not sound debilitating not to mention exhausting to you? Would it not make more sense to focus and place value and importance on who I am?

Whether I am connecting to the fact or not, I am already everything I could possibly wish to be.

And it is OK to feel amazing.

AND to not ever apologise for it!

Matt and Ulrike’s living way is what enabled this experience to be so powerful. They live in the knowing that energy comes first in any activity, project or job we do so what is captured in the photo is not just the person in front of the camera but is in fact also the quality of energy of the photographer. Understanding that an imposed ‘gaze’ or projected perception of beauty, can not only impact the photo but the person in it, inspires a responsibility in the way that Matt photographs. This allowed me to feel that I could simply be myself.

Matt doesn’t make it about the end result or getting that perfect picture. He holds a space and works from the basis that we are already stupendous energetic beings, that we are so much more than just a physical body and when he humbly connects to that first . . . well the rest is history.

For anyone wanting to ditch their hermit shell, I wholeheartedly recommend Matt and Ulrike for a photo session. It truly is a very healing and joyful experience.

Other photographers that live, work and breathe by the same principles and qualities as mentioned above who I also recommend include:

Dean Whitling, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Clayton Lloyd, Goonellabah, NSW, Australia

Simon Asquith, Goonellabah, NSW, Australia

Steffi Henn, Berlin, Germany

Iris Pohl, Germany