Melancholy and the Creative Soul
Melancholy and the creative soul explored in this splash of yellow.
Melancholy is beautiful and misunderstood. Let's explore the relationship between the creative soul and melancholy.
Melancholy gets a bad wrap these days. But, outside of an actual psychological condition, feelings of melancholy are perfectly normal.
In fact they’re often associated with the creative soul.
We’re all doing our best to make out way in what’s become an increasingly binary world where choices seem framed between polar opposites.
I want to take this opportunity to discuss the value of melancholy as an emotion by which we can explore the middle path, the space between the dualities that our existence seems to be based around.
What Determines the Mood In Your Photos?
Do you ever find you’re out and about with your camera and things just aren’t going well?
Let’s explore some of the variables that could effect your view of the world around you and, as a consequence, your ability to photograph it.
Notice the bright yellow of the building and its reflection in the above photo. It’s the color yellow, not the statue, the pond or the trees that drew my attention to this scene.
It provides an important moment of harmonious color and a positive, uplighting feel to the image on what had become a wet and drab day in Salzburg, Austria.
That splash of yellow on the water was particularly sympathetic to the needs of this image.
It draws attention to the horizon line, separating the pond from the surrounding trees, and provides a lovely sense of balance between the two.
Like a lot of good photos we can attribute its success based on the following criteria.
The light you’re photographing under.
The subject matter and your ability to bring it together into a harmonious and cohesive composition.
Your mood which often determines what you photograph; how you go about making your photos; and, ultimately, what your photos are about.
Light and shadows shape this wonderous melancholy ice sculpture in Harbin, China.
Melancholy Meaning
As I understand it psychiatry associates melancholic depression with feelings of pensive sadness, unhappiness or misery that can’t be attributed to any obvious cause.
Incidentally, depression can be described as a deep and, often, prolonged sadness associated with everyday life.
Okay, now it’s time to draw a line of demarcation.
I’m a photographer and I’m simply not qualified to discuss medical conditions associated with melancholy and depression, beyond the very basic definitions and distinctions outlined above.
However, I’m a human being and a creative person. I’m also a passionate educator who enjoys immersive experiences, like playing guitar; and deep, fulfilling relationships.
I’m not afraid of the word melancholy and I’m writing this post as a way of helping to reclaim the use of words like melancholy that, for one reason or another, seem to frighten people.
I don’t want to live in a world of perpetual grey, yet the world around us seems to be constructed around the notion of duality.
What’s wrong with that?
Your choice shouldn’t always be limited to sweet or sour, pungent or mild. Sometimes it’s the taste, or the space between opposites, where the greatest experience awaits.
In my own creative practice I enjoy making photos that recognize duality and explore the spaces existing between the binary choices around which our world of duality seems predicated.
What bothers me is the concern so many people express at the mere mention of the world melancholy.
Somehow they seem to be linking melancholy directly with clinical depression, which I think is absurd.
It’s like seeing a definitive and inescapable link between chocolate and bulimia or, dare I say, owning an expensive sports car and being a great driver.
One does not, necessarily, guarantee the other.
I’m writing this post because I feel I must and because it’s high time creative folk stopped fearing emotions like melancholy.
Happiness Is Overrated
The first thing we need to do is to forget about this search for happiness that’s been pushed upon us by certain contemporary authors and podcasters.
Happiness is, to my way of think, overrated.
It’s a wonderful emotion, but only one of many. How can we truly appreciate happiness or bliss without having also experienced our share of sadness and misery along the way?
Needless to say life can’t be lived without experiencing a full and wide range of emotions.
Isn’t that one of the great lessons we learn from the life of the Buddha. How to find balance in a world of extremes.
Do you know the story?
Buddha's Middle Path illustrated by a footbridge leading to Hongcun Village, China.
Buddha’s Middle Path
Prince Siddhartha Gautama was born into a life of comfort, privilege and wealth. His father, the king, tried to shelter the young prince from the sufferings of life such as sickness, old age and death.
The story says that, as a young adult with a wife and a child of his own, Prince Siddhartha ventured outside the royal enclosure and was shocked to see, apparently for the first time, a sick man, an old man and a corpse.
Realizing that sickness, aging and death were inevitable and a fate no one could avoid Siddhartha denounced his title, left his sheltered life and went out into the world in search of a way to escape suffering.
After spending six years leading a life of extreme asceticism Siddhartha chose to follow what he described as the Middle Path, a way of life between the extremes of luxury and poverty he’d previously lead.
After achieving enlightenment Siddhartha Gautama become known as the Buddha and the Middle Path became a fundamental principle of Buddhist teaching.
Are We Not Spiritual Beings?
I also believe that this preoccupation with finding happiness is, very much, a first world problem.
What we should be doing is making a real and concerted effort to live a more meaning rich and purpose driven life.
Emotion and experience are at the heart of a creative, artistic life and we need to both acknowledge and explore emotions, such as melancholy, as a way of better understanding the Human Condition.
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
I favor the above notion and wonder if it’s the very purpose of our human existance.
Melancholy and the beauty of the moment where green and yellow dominate.
Melancholy and The Beauty Of The Moment
This photo was made in the grounds of a beautiful public park in Salzburg, Austria. It’s a lovely space, filled with pools and fountains, where green is very much the dominant color.
Unfortunately, while I’d left my hotel in lovely summer sunshine, by the time I’d reached the park the weather had turned 180 degrees.
It was cold and raining, but thankfully not windy. The park was so beautiful that I determined to continue photographing. And I’m so glad that I did.
I sheltered under the canopy provided by large trees, titled my camera downwards so as to keep the lens dry, and made a series of quite gentle, melancholic images.
While I wouldn't want to live my life in a state of melancholy, in the right circumstances it's a lovely emotion to experience.
Think of a gentle paced walk on a cool, autumn day as you pass fallen leaves scattered upon green grass.
You're conscious of the time of year and of the changing of the seasons. The days are getting shorter and colder and summer is now past.
It’s a time of regret, but also of beauty. You recognize the past while embracing the present moment.
The dominant emotion I experienced while making this photo was melancholy, and I think that's completely appropriate.
Buy that doesn’t mean making the photo wasn’t an enjoyable experience. What’s not to like about creating a visually interesting image.
Melancholy represents, to me, a place of sombre beauty, a bridge existing between the metaphorical islands of bliss and despair.
I wouldn't necessarily want to live there, but I find it to be a beautiful, quiet and contemplative place to visit.
Melancholy is a space, a state of mind in which I enjoy creating poignant and meaning rich photographs.
Great Photos Through Effort and Immersion
It’s true that the weather or the time of day may not present the location in the same way as a fine art print or iconic postcard of the same location made under more ideal lighting.
Perhaps you’ve had the good fortune to have made a great photo of incredible subject matter under ideal conditions. Awesome!
But how confident are you in your ability to consistently be able to make really good photos of more banal subject matter under pretty average conditions?
With luck and a reasonable amount of skill a decent photographer can produce a great result under ideal circumstances.
But making something out of nothing is a skill that needs to be built over time.
I believe your ability to make really good photos on a consistent basis is largely dependent upon the following criteria.
The ability to form connections with the subject matter in your photos
A genuine love of photography
Immersion in the moment
Effort and perseverance
The ability to learn from your mistakes and rebound from failure
Be Calm And Still Your Mind
A bad mood can impact adversely on your enjoyment and how you perceive the world around you.
If you’re stressed or overly anxious your busy mind may act as a barrier preventing you from experiencing the beauty of your surroundings.
To still the mind or, as author Eckhart Tolle explores in his book The Power of Now, to understand that “you are not your mind” is essential in breaking the mind’s control over your true self.
Expectations Are An Obstacle To Experience
Imagine you’re off for the weekend with the plan to make a beautiful sunrise photo at an iconic seaside location.
Most likely your expectations for amazing photos have prevented you seeing what that particular location has to offer.
Why place extra pressure on yourself with expectations dependent upon a great sunrise when the weather is beyond your control?
By all means do your research and determine the best time to visit a particular location so that, if the weather’s good, the scene will be illuminated with beautiful light.
Just don’t make your photography adventure dependent upon great light.
Head out into the world with the understanding that, to discover the mystery of a location, it’s often best to suppress any such preconceptions or expectations.
Be organized, be on time and dress appropriately for the weather conditions you’re likely to experience.
All that remains is mindset, energy and the willingness to remain open to any possibilities that the day and the light may present.
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What an expereince to explore the peaceful waters off Cuverville Island, Antarctica.
Creative Photos Explore Your Experience
Remember it’s not the location, but your experience of that location that will make your photos unique and memorable.
Be less concerned with accurately documenting what you see in front of you and employ photography to explore how you feel about what you see.
As in all things, that’s what matters most.
One Final Tip For Your Creative Soul
In a world where the hardest part of your day may be getting out of bed in the morning, don’t forget to set your alarm clock a little earlier than you think you need to.
The fact that you won’t have to start your day rushing around will allow you to head off to work in a calm and more positive state of mind.
As a consequence of gaining time you’ll find yourself making better decisions, right from the beginning of the day.
Here’s some of the possibilities this simple action opens up for you.
Starting the day with a healthy breakfast.
Walking to the railway station, rather than rushing there in your car hoping all the car parking spaces won’t be taken.
Enjoy your daily commute by tuning into the world around you.
Listening to a podcast that further opens your mind (I like the Kevin Rose Podcast).
Actively seeking to help your colleagues and your customers, rather than seeing them as a barrier preventing you from doing what you need to do.
Changing what you eat at lunch time and, ideally, heading out of the office for a nice, leisurely walk.
We all know that starting the day right sets you up for success. Yet how focused are we upon making a simple change, like getting up early, to set in motion a whole series of changes to improve our day?
Being a night person I don’t particularly like getting up early. But I know when I do the day, the world and my life seems to open up in often quite subtle but, nonetheless, pretty amazing ways.
Turning myself into a morning person is an ongoing project, but one that I consider will be an absolute game changer.
Getting up and starting your day earlier than you’re used to will be a challenge. But, if you can stick at it, your creative soul will thank you, though not necessarily right away.
