Brooke M., Free, grade ten.

Robin Brewer

What do you think of when you hear the word mindfulness? For me, it means finding peace through being in the moment. When you think about it, that’s just what a photographer does— obser ve and focus in on the visual importance of a moment, preserving an experience to share or revisit in the future. Some photography will transport viewers to another place through imagery that prompts them to remember sounds, smells, favorite foods, and past visual experiences. It is this aspect of photography that I recently found to be most helpful in reaching my students and encouraging them to slow down.

Mary L, Lantern, grade twelve. 

Sara L., Morning Reflection, grade twelve.

At the end of the 2020–2021 school year, many students were experiencing fatigue and apathy after a year of virtual education. A few high-school students were in my photography classroom for in-person instruction, but the majority were still online. I needed to mix things up and give students a break from looking at their screens. Mindfulness was also being utilized in our district as a strategy to help students focus, so I began brainstorming ways to combine photography and mindfulness.

The Seven Senses
The act of photographing in a mindful way can serve two purposes. First, the photographer benefits from entering a state of quiet self-ref lection while shooting what they see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. Second, the viewer benefits from this process through shared sensory events like the smell of coffee or the sound of traffic.

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