How Noisy is Your Life?
Do you have too much noise in your life?
I am not talking about honking horns, sirens, or the constant notification sounds coming from your cellphone.
I am talking about noise that clutters your mind and in doing so keeps you from deeper enjoyment, understanding, and appreciation. Noise that can confuse you, overwhelm you, and keep you from achieving goals.
Let me offer an example. Recently, I heard the term "food noise" used by people trying to lose weight. They buy an app to track calories or to track carbs. They start out religiously entering that data - and for some, the food noise starts to creep in.
How many carbs do I have left for today?
What if I don't hit my macros?
The office wants to go out for Leslie's birthday - where are we going and what can I eat there?
You're dieting - and all you can think about is food. What you've eaten. What you plan to eat. What you might "have to" eat.
And eventually . . . it's just too much. You give up. The app gets ignored. You are just so tired of tracking everything.
Been there, done that.
What About Your Photos?
Now look at your phone.
How many pictures do you have on your phone? And how many are near duplicates of each other?
I am going to guess that the chances are good you have pictures you've taken going back years - so many, in fact, that you could scroll through and find yourself wondering where it was taken, who is that in the picture, or what year it was done.
Let me tell you another thing I heard recently.
In a podcast I follow, a photographer was talking about her mother during the woman's late stage of dementia. The mother did not recognize her daughter, the photographer. She did not recognize other family members. But what did cause a reaction and recognition from the mother was the senior picture of her daughter taken decades ago, This was a picture done in black and white, hand colored by the mother, and which had hung for years in the hallway of the mother's home.
And so it was hung again in the mother's room in the assisted living facility for her to have those moments of clarity until she left this world.
In this case, it only took one picture. But you can be assured that if the mother had been shown a seemingly endless scroll of pictures ona screen, there would just be too much noise for her to regain that memory.
Printing Is A Noise Filter
I am not only a photographer. I create wall art, and custom folios and albums for my clients. I happen to do it mostly through photography but even then, what I make is often embellished and transformed into artwork.
In doing so, I help you take pictures that resonate most with you, be it your child with Santa Claus or your "heart dog" who will always be your best friend.
Sometimes, less is more. I know some people may be used to a model where the photographer takes them out to a field of tall grass, snaps away, and delivers 25 digital files on a thumb drive.
And maybe the client posts them to social media. And maybe friends look at the 4-photo preview Facebook serves, subconsciously thinks that's enough for now, hits the "like" button - and moves on. And maybe Grandma asks that some be sent to her and she does the same and keeps those pictures on a hard drive somewhere - and forgets about them entirely after a while.
Why? Because there is just too much noise. Your mind is busy enough. You can't keep up. You mean to print out some but then you think well, I guess I can get do that at Costco, then doesn't Hobby Lobby have a sale on frames, but then what do I need to hang them, and . . .
And the next thing you know it's like tracking those calories on an app, and you meant to go to the gym because you've been paying for it every month, and Ashleigh needs to get to cheer, and your car's light is on for another oil change.
What's the volume then?
BUT . . .
When select photos are arranged in an album and may even have text accompanying them . . . or when a photo is digitally painted and displayed as a framed canvas in the home . . . or when a collection of matted prints is safe inside a sturdy window box and can opened when family gathers - the noise becomes subdued. Instead of midtown Manhattan during a busy rush hour, it's a lullaby, hummed softly.
A single photo displayed in a home is a gentle reminder of who is in it and what they mean to you. And you get to have that moment every time you see it.
An album is a storybook - and the narrative is your own.
And when you have a potrait artist sit down first to ask, where will these pictures live, and you know I am keeping your goal in mind and will handle getting your products to you - it's a lot less noisy.
Let's keep it down for you, shall we?
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