The Subtle Art of Living Literally
Few close people accurately guess this about me but I am a staunch stoic; like Zeno or Seneca, I can appreciate the notion that:
the path to happiness for humans is found in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or fear of pain, by using one’s mind to understand the world and to do one’s part in nature’s plan, and by working together and treating others fairly and justly.
I do know that it is easier said than actually put into practice. However, I have been at it for the most part of my adult life and unconsciously, my formative years. It has helped me get a grasp over things and perpetually, over life as it unfolds before me. I owe a huge portion of my photographic process to stoic teachings and if ever I am asked about my work and what my influences are as a photographer, the short simple answer is stoicism.
I often look at the work of other photographers whenever I need a little pick me up; Alexey Titarenko, Björn Körner, (my good friends) Eric Gyamfi and Kwasi Darko, James Barnor and Saul Leiter are all on my tall list, and for the purpose of this blog piece, Rinko Kawauchi, the Japanese photographer who has mastered the art of capturing spirits and essences in her serene, poetic depictions of the ordinary moments in life. I believe it has a lot to do with her Shinto belief and practice.
So how do I do it?
I try to be present. I will elaborate.
Night guard was among the 10 photographs selected for my solo exhibition (Immanuel — Nov. 17). I captured the image in March of 2013 during my brief visit to Axim, 64 kilometres west of Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana. It was my first time to the coastal town and I liked how secluded and sequestered it was. I particularly remember how on that night I crept out of bed and out of my hotel room and onto the porch with my Canon Rebel in tow, to sit and look out into the night to just be; taking the moment as it presented itself and using photography to try to understand what lay before me, appropriating a moment in time when everything was simply calm and at peace.
Anyone can take a thing or two from the Stoics.
Be Present
There are many things out there that require your attention if they are to manifest, in fact at a quantum level, particles are said to behave in a certain way by virtue of simply being observed. It may seem to suggest that things need you to pay attention to them before they actually become.
As a stoic, you get to follow a discipline that guides and constantly reminds you of this, enabling you to have a clear focus on what to pay attention to at the present moment and like a series of photographs, what we see or encounter can be likened to a sequence of film slides inside a projector— eternal nows placed one after the other spooling away and giving the illusion of movement. Imagine that and try to not get carried away. Try to remember that all there is literally is what is present and even with this, it becomes when you give attention.
Be Mindful
Compliment the process of being present with being mindful. A simple mindfulness exercise would have you paying attention to what lies before you and simply naming it and you will see that over time, you will learn to differentiate things, something like compartmentalizing or putting things in their rightful places so they don’t confuse or have a hold on you.
Your very own mental file cabinet, if you will.
In the image above, in five seconds you can see a beach with a figure walking away and even though it has the power to evoke more than meets the eye, catching yourself and being aware of what you are thinking about it is the way to go if you want to be mindful in your thought process.
Be Open
Imagine climbing aboard a bus at a terminal. There are other people with you as you get on it, all heading in the same direction. The bus trods along and you can decide to look outside and notice the passing landscapes and the changing weather or look within, where there is probably a greying old man whose hat is on his lap or on another side not too far out, where a young mother hands out crackers to her sons. At certain times the bus would stop and people would get on or off it and unless you actually ask to find out, you’d only be able to wonder where they are all coming from or where they are going. One thing is certain though, all are heading in the same direction and towards a common destination — a certain demise.
This could either frighten or exhilarate, and sooner or later one will have to come to terms with it and begin the process of decluttering the mind and making space and time for the things that matter; like love (or whatever you would rather pencil in, it is your journal after all).
Be open to all the possibilities life may project. However, strive to know where or on what you’d ultimately want the focus to be. That is how I do it with my camera when I wish to photograph something or someone. It is not as easy in real life but with some level of consistency and determination, it gets easier with time.
It is totally doable.
Seneca, over to you.
“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.”
