Street Photography’s 7 Unexpected Life Lessons to Make You See the World Differently
Jul 23, 2023Observation wasn’t the only thing I sharpened as a street photographer before I became a coach.
I’m living a double life!
Photo © Polly Rusyn (my photographer alter ego)
The other Polly (Rusyn) is a multi-award-winning (semi-famous in her field) photographer, street photography coach, speaker, and author. I’ve been running my soloprenuer photography business since 2015.
I’ve always been creative (as well as always interested in the mind) from a young age, and I love how my worlds come together because it turns out street photography has taught me some cool sh*t about life and vice versa.
And here are the 7 lessons I learned:
1. Observe with curiosity
📸 The most curious and unusual moments make for the most interesting photos.
✨ With this in mind we can approach life in the same way, with the eyes of an alien baby: where everything is new, interesting, and fresh!
Get curious.
Ask questions.
What is it I’m feeling? Where is it in my body? What’s it really about? How am I getting in my own way?
E x p a n d ………………… your self-awareness.
Observe your thoughts and your feelings. Let them speak to you.
Spoilers: You already have all your own answers.
2. Make the ordinary extraordinary
📸 Find what’s beautiful in the mundane everyday stuff — the tiny details and small moments.
✨ Be grateful for every darn thing you experience however seemingly insignificant they are.
(especially the seemingly insignificant)
Gather up your daily wins… Thank your feet for keeping you walking. Cherish the sunrise even though it happens every single day. Tell someone you appreciate them.
Sometimes the ordinary things can be the little things that create the biggest memories…
(that smile, that touch, the sound of that laughter)
3. Train your observation
📸 By engaging your Reticular Activating System (RAS) you can programme your mind to notice specific things(more about the RAS is coming soon so stay tuned)
✨ Your RAS filters all the million bits of sensory information coming at you and shows you your beliefs and biases…
It’s like a puppy that wants to play and make you happy.
It’s a built-in self-fulfilling-prophecy-making machine.
Programme it for what you want/wish/desire/require/insist upon.
Think. Dream. Affirm. Believe. Trust.
You’ll start seeing opportunities. Your mind will find them. Then it’s up to you to act on them.
4. Stay in the moment
📸 Getting into “the zone” helps your focus and therefore hones your observational skills by keeping you calm and mindful.
✨ Right now is THE place to be! And really there is nowhere else — the past is a story and the future a dream.
Both are illusions.
Staying in the moment not only keeps you grounded, but it helps you feel safe and chill AF about life because right NOW… you are safe.
And in stillness is space, and in space is room for inspiration and creation and growth.
5. See life as theatre
📸 The best photographs have great light, great actors, and a great narrative.
✨ You are the writer, director, and star of your own show. The hero of your story.
How are you going to play your part? What script are you reading from? The one you were programmed with as a child and then by society, or one that you created (ARE creating and curating) for yourself?
We have choices. We can choose to choose, or choose to not choose.
We can change our programming.
You can write absolutely any script for yourself.
Now, ain’t that a blast?!
6. Build a jigsaw puzzle
📸 Street photography is problem-solving. You have to piece together and organize a lot of moving parts in order to make a great photo.
✨ You can only see where you are right NOW… you don’t know what the final picture (AKA your life) will look like.
Trust your intuition to help you gather the pieces…
Let go of the outcome.
Step back and see how it’s coming together. When you’re inside the puzzle you can be too close. Changing your perspective can shift the sh*t out of anything.
Before you know it things are taking shape, and one day the “picture” appears!
7. Mindset is everything
📸 Your mindset can make or break your photography
✨ Your mindset can make or break your life
*pauses for effect
And that, as they say, is a wrap.
To summarise:
1. Observe with curiosity
2. Make the ordinary extraordinary
3. Train your observation
4. Stay in the moment
5. See life as theatre
6. Build a jigsaw puzzle
7. Mindset is everything
E X P E R I M E N T
Go on a mindfulness walk and immerse yourself into the world around you. Feel your feet make contact with the ground, scan your body so you walk “loose” and relaxed, slow down, tune in to all your senses: Listen to everything around you and in the distance, notice small gestures, pick up any smells… soak it all in!
Repeat after me:
“In the NOW, I am present, chilled AF, and grateful. Past stories and future uncertainties dissolve, and I AM infinite possibility.”
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