Practice 1 Video- Chase Things That Sparkle

Elevate Your Smartphone Photography

Have you ever wanted to take your smartphone photography to the next level, but when you get out there, you’re just not sure what to shoot? A long time ago, one of my favorite photography teachers taught me a valuable lesson: when in doubt, just follow the light. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do today.

Mindful Photography for Inner Peace

I’m going to show you how to enter moments of inner peace through mindful smartphone photography. We’ll start with the first practice from my book, The Mindful Photography Field Guide, called Chase Things That Sparkle. Let’s go chase some sparkles!

Approaching Mindful Photography

There are a couple of different ways to approach mindful photography practices. One way is to plan it out, like I’m doing now, and go out with a specific practice in mind. Another way is to use mindful photography as an interventionary technique—when I’m spiraling into negative thought patterns, I immediately do a mindful photography practice to interrupt that. Either way, we’ll use the Focus, Capture, and Shine technique.

Step One: Focus on Your Body and Surroundings

Step one: Focus on your body and surroundings. When you notice that you need a moment of presence and inner peace, stop yourself and focus on your body. The first thing to do is find a place where you can pause. Place your hand on your heart and take three deep belly breaths.

These breaths help you drop down out of that noisy monkey mind and into your body. Let’s take those three deep belly breaths now. Get present. Now that we’re in our bodies, we open our eyes and just notice our surroundings. It’s not about intense focus—just a general awareness of what’s around us.

Capturing the Moment

Now for the fun part: capturing some images. Before we start, there’s one critical thing we need to do. It’s key to mindful smartphone photography. We’re going to turn this noisy, world’s-greatest-distraction device into a simple camera. Just switch your smartphone to airplane mode. This way, we disconnect from the matrix for a little while and get present.

Letting the Sparkles Come to You

One of the mind shifts necessary for mindful smartphone photography is realizing it’s not just about taking pretty pictures; it’s about capturing the present moment. It’s about being immersed in the scene without a lot of commentary, just absorbing what’s around us.

For our first practice, Chase Things That Sparkle, instead of actively searching for sparkles, let them come to you. Take this scene right here, for instance. Notice this wall over here—it’s in the shadow, so it doesn’t really sparkle. But look at these flowers—the sunlight backlighting them causes them to sparkle, with light illuminating their edges.

Discovering Sparkles Everywhere

We’re not going to rush around to find things that sparkle. In fact, we don’t need to go far at all. Wow, I’m already seeing some sparkles right here! Notice materials that sparkle and those that don’t. Newspaper? Not really. Glass? Absolutely, big time. Metal? You bet—lots of sparkles.

Flat brick? Not so much. You might think I’m crazy, but normally we’d look at a scene like this—a bunch of trash—and think, “Gross,” and walk away. But with mindful photography, instead of forming opinions, let’s just look at it as shapes, sparkles, and colors.

Immersing in the Moment

Move around and see how the light interacts with different materials. Anytime you see a street sign, you’re likely to see a lot of sparkles. This reflective material is incredibly sparkly. Notice how your camera angle and the direction of light affect how sparkly things are. Right now, this sidewalk isn’t very sparkly. But, turn around—wow, look at those sparkles!

Friends, I don’t have to tell you—we’re living in a crazy world right now. It seems like everything is coming unhinged. Sometimes it’s crucial to turn this distraction device into just a simple camera and get out into the world to be present. Mindful smartphone photography will help you do just that. It helps you get present through your most powerful sense—your vision.

Shine Your Light and Bless Others

I’ll admit, I didn’t feel like coming out here this morning to do this, but I acted opposite to my emotions. You can do the same. Those thoughts that tell you not to do something good for yourself—immerse yourself in beauty and bless someone. Just let them talk, but you take action. Take responsibility for that monkey mind.

A Sparkling Glenwood Springs

This is the pedestrian bridge that goes over the Colorado River and I-70 in Glenwood Springs. That right there is the big hot springs pool. I’m just noticing the things sparkling here. So many times while chasing things that sparkle, I get into macro mode and focus on small details. But even a wide shot like this has lots of sparkles.

While we’re capturing the present moment and the physical world around us, we’re also continuously checking in—how am I right now? Personally, mission accomplished. When I do this, it’s so immersively mindful that I forget all my problems. I’m able to find peace and relax my mind doing one of the things I love most in life.

Come Visit Glenwood Springs

I hope you’re enjoying your tour of Glenwood Springs. My favorite attraction is right here—the world’s largest hot springs pool. It’s something like a million gallons of water in there, looking pretty tempting.

I had to do it—feels so good. Come visit me in Glenwood Springs! By the way, you can download the Chase Things That Sparkle practice for free at MindfulPhotography.org.

Shine Your Light

The third step of Focus, Capture, Shine is to shine your light and bless others. Pick a few photos that really resonate with you. Toss the rest. Take those photos and send someone a love note. Tell them you’re thinking about them and wish them the very best. It’ll rock their day—and yours too, I promise you. Friend, you are a precious child of God. We’re given two main commandments: to love God and to love each other. This is one way to do that. I wish you well. Get out there and shine your light today.

Shine Your Light,
Joe

PS:

If you found this post helpful, you'll love my book, The Mindful Photography Field Guide: 15 Smartphone Photography Practices for Inner Peace. It’s packed with practical tips and inspiring stories. Ready to dive deeper? I also offer one-on-one mindful photography training to help you master skills that lead to inner peace. Reach out to me via my contact form and let’s connect.