If you been following me for a while you would know that I am as philosophical as a teaspoon. Whenever I hear deeply philosophical quotes I usually roll my eyes and swipe away. However just before arriving in Istanbul I was browsing through YouTube and I came across a video which summed up some quotes from a bloke from a few years ago. Specifically the bloke in question was Soren Kierkegaard, a danish theology expert from the 1800s. Our mate Soren came out with a bunch of different quotes however there was one in particular which really struck a cord with me both personally and from a photography point of view. Given this is a photography channel we will discuss the photography bit first.

The quote was
“The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you’ll never have”

Does that make sense? Let me write it again…

“The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you’ll never have”

Let me give you one example that illustrates this perfectly. You haven’t travelled in aged for photography and finally after over 2 years of travel restrictions, you’re on a flight to a new location. Finally you will climb out of your creative rut and will be in a totally new and exciting environment. You even begin to fantasies about what the streets would look like, the lighting, the sounds and smells. Sooner or later you will start to fantasies about all the photos you will take. You will imagine them in great detail and create these incredible picture perfect images in your head. Why stop there? Next up you can start to imagine everyones reaction when you post these photos. The competitions you will win and even recognition from photographers you admire. Everything is perfect, until you’re out of your dream world and back in the real one. You head out and the first few days of shooting don’t bring any results. Although disappointed, you are still chasing those shots. 3/4 of the trip has gone by and although you have good images, they just don’t stack up to the ones in your day dream. Before you know it, the trip is over and you’re on your flight home. Compared to the usual photos you’ve been producing, these new images are very strong yet you are still feeling somewhat down. You’re back at home and still feeling like you’re in a rut. Does this sound familiar? It should do, because we’ve all been there including myself.

The fact of the matter is the chances of your real life photography living up to this wild dream you made up in your head is slim to none. The photos you imagined, although technically could be possible, the odds of you getting something even close in real life, you might as well chance it on the lottery. So going back to the quote “The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you’ll never have”. You see by putting all your hopes and dreams on getting photos which within the context of street and travel photography are completely out of your control, you have pretty much convinced yourself that you already have those photos. So when real life does not play along, there is only one outcome. Disappointment.

The moral of the story here, is don’t put all your hopes and expectations on getting the shot. The only exception here is if you’re a commercial photographer and everything is staged… that’s different ballgame. So if you shouldn’t look forward to all the shots that you want to get, then what should you look focus on? Well as I always say in my workshops or whenever people ask me…. Focus on the process and not on the end result:

Focus on how you will take these photos and not what those photos would look like
Focus on setting up your camera
Focus on observing the scene
Focus on finding compositions
Focus on finding good light
Focus on interesting subjects
Most importantly focus on enjoying yourself and being present

Moving away from photography and looking more towards the travel side, this quote I feel applies even more. How many of us dream about certain trips but quickly end up dreaming up scenarios and events that in reality will probably never happen. If we repeat that dream enough times, we will be so convinced of it that it wouldn’t be too different to if it actually happened and we were simply remembering back. However of course it has never happened and probably never will. For example you’re in Istanbul and you’re walking along the Bosphorus. All of the sudden you strike up a conversation with a local fisherman and after some chat he invites you on his boat for a quick cruise. Not only has this been an amazing surprise but it is something you will remember for the rest of your life. You tell this story to your friend who is also visiting Istanbul a month later. Your friend really wants something similar to happen to them and very slowly they start to day dream about such a scenario. When they get to Istanbul, rather than just being present, they are always thinking back to that scenario. They spend a whole day walking up and down the Bosphorus but fail to meet anyone who will take them out in their boat. It is the end of the day, and although they are witnessing an amazing sunset, they are still feeling somewhat deflated… at least subconsciously. Because their real life did not live up to the future they made up in their head.

So the moral of the story here is to focus on the present and focus on the process. The moment you catch yourself dreaming up situations that have not happened or photos are you have not taken, give yourself a slap and your future self will thank you for it.

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