Focus

Friends tell me I have great focus. If there’s a task that I want to do then I will be attentive to the process and the outcome. Job done! You notice I said, “that I want to do”. If I don’t want to do it then I may procrastinate or be focused on methods of avoidance. Focus is a very useful attribute; though I have, through personal experience, learnt how it can slip in to striving beyond my natural abilities. 

As a mindfulness practitioner I am working on this awareness. The trick seems to be to pay attention to my body and mind. My body may provide physical symptoms of how my focus is slipping into unhelpful striving. These are usually easy to spot, but perhaps also easy to ignore. My mind however requires constant training.

Your mind, like mine, is constantly busy. Even when you are focused on a specific task, and imagine that you are pretty attuned to what you are doing, your mind will still play about. Slipping off into an imaginary conversation, wondering about how your work will be recognised, or simply replaying an incident from earlier in the day.

Meditation is the training that enables you to pay attention to your mind. Meditation burns the neural pathways that support our intention to be aware of our thoughts and feelings. This then percolates through our life, enabling a mindful approach. Focus requires mindfulness like trees require sunshine.

Focus in Photography

In the world of photography focus is usually a matter of how sharp your object or image is. However, I am attracted to using a de-focused lens. This enables a playfulness and a sense of possibility. It throws the need for identification of object out of the window and allows colour, shape, pattern and line to assume prominence. These then can suggest a feeling, or they can just be how you were in the moment and let the viewer interpret the vision you have created.

What is then created, can through your choice of visual elements, create a metaphor for a thing or feeling. Alternatively, the blurring of a familiar object may provide a sense of softness or delicacy that would not have been present if the object had been sharp.

If you are intrigued about this and would like to experiment then you need to do two things. Find out how to turn your auto-focus off (this is not always possible with all digital cameras or phones) and secondly get out there and experiment. Inspiration is also at hand. One of my favourite modern photographers who works like this is Isabella Berr. Take a look and take a chance!