The power of being seen
I just did my first FB Live where I talk about being seen, you can watch it here
As I mention in the video, being seen doesn’t come easy to me, I started my photographer career because I loved photographing people but it also gave me an opportunity to hide behind the camera so I didn’t have to network at the events I was organizing at the time.
I was listening to a podcast the other day where I heard the person being interviewed say “at any given moment you can choose to conceal or reveal more of yourself” and that really hit me in the gut.
How can I ask of my clients to be brave and be seen if I am not willing to do that?
So I thought I’d share an experience I had not long ago about being seen:
About a month ago I was listening to a podcast with Tara Brach where she said “the path to freedom is through vulnerability”, and it so resonated so with me.
On that same day a post showed up about a workshop called Freedom with Amy Buck at Wisdom Ridge Ranch. And I thought, this is not a coincidence; a workshop called Freedom with a horse called Wisdom, sign me up! 🙂
At the workshop we all did one on one work with a horse in the round pen, you can see a photo of me and Wisdom below.
The energy of a horse is a powerful thing, I immediately connected with Wisdom and I just started to cry.
I have no idea how long I was in that round pen, all I know is that when I let it all go, when I shed the mask, the layers, everything that I was carrying, we were so in tune. I felt an amazing trust between us and I could see his wisdom.
He taught me a lot in those minutes in the round pen, when I was in the present and not stuck in my head with expectations about how it should be we were so connected. When I tried to hard or started to judge we lost that connection. I think that is such a great lesson on how to live our lives.
After this experience that is really hard to put words on, out in the “real world” I tried to make sense of it all, where did all those tears come from? And I started to feel embarrassed over crying in front of people. The judging was back.
When I had my follow up call with Amy and we explored where those tears may have come from, she said couldn’t it had been because you were being seen, just as you are, you were being seen in this intimate way.
I was putting away the layers of perfectionism, the struggle and the expectations and felt the unconditionally love that animals give.
How does this experience tie in to my portrait work you may ask?
To me this is everything.
I want to create the same safe bubble in my studio as I had with Wisdom. Where my clients will allow themselves to be seen and captured. Where you can show up and choose to reveal more of whom you are and we can uncover that together.
Recent Comments