Before You Improve Your Photography, Read Yourself First - Moments of Mood, 3.3
3/11/202616 min
In this episode of Moments of Mood, I explore why self-awareness is the missing foundation behind meaningful photography. After spending a few days at a silent retreat in Bali, I began reflecting on something I’ve seen repeatedly in my own work, in conversations on the MOOD Podcast, and in our book club discussions. Many photographers spend years learning techniques, buying gear, and consuming endless education, yet still feel creatively stuck. The issue is rarely technical knowledge. More often, it’s a lack of self-awareness.
In this episode I explain how meditation and mindfulness changed the way I und...
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMatt Jacob· Host0:00
There's no self-development without self-awareness. You can read as many books as you like, but if you can't read yourself, then you'll never learn a thing. The problem is, most of us are not aware of this truth, or believe it at all, or have any idea how to actually do it. Well, in this video, I'm going to talk about how I managed to do it myself. [gentle music] Recently, I spent a few days at a silent retreat just an hour from home here in Bali. No talking, no devices, just space and time unfolding without interruption. My mind opened up to a lot of writing, mindfulness, and reading, and I wrote most of what you're hearing now on paper, as I do most days, because it's one of the ways I stay connected to my own mind. Writing by hand just feels slower, more honest, and far less performative than maybe typing ever does. Silence is like a drug for me. That's a paradox in itself, which I guess I'll come back to, but the quiet there wasn't unsettling when it arrived, and when I arrived at the retreat. It was euphoric almost immediately so, like a pressure being released. And then as the hours passed, the silence revealed this kind of texture, birds moving through the trees, insects humming steadily