Another Interlude
Untitled
from 'Woodland Fantasy' Series
Reading an article by Travis Bradbury on Emotional Intelligence (EQ) I was particularly taken by his view that:
People with high EQs master their emotions because they understand them, and they use an extensive vocabulary of feelings to do so. While many people might describe themselves as simply feeling “bad,” emotionally intelligent people can pinpoint whether they feel “irritable,” “frustrated,” “downtrodden,” or “anxious.”
The more specific your word choice, the better insight you have into exactly how you are feeling, what caused it, and what you should do about it.
When I first started working with Julia I struggled with emotional expression (I’m the product of a 1950s, post-war upbringing, remember, from an inexpressive family). And it still makes me laugh that I found one assignment so difficult (incomprehensibly difficult – terra incognita!) that I had to download a word-wheel of emotion words from the internet to help me get started! But over the months I became more able to identify my emotions, verbalise them, express them. And increasingly I see photography as an important conduit for this expression; interestingly it’s less about a single topic – more about my exploration of, my response to and my expression of, the new, less-familiar world around me.
When I was in engineering, I understood my world – or, at least, I imagined I did. I knew who I was and where I fitted in. But since 2005 I’ve inhabited a new world – alien at first, slowly becoming more familiar and more rewarding. And, I think, that photography enables me to explore and articulate my surroundings; it’s showing me the extent to which I see the strengths and qualities of my relationship with this new world.
Even so, I still get the sense that I’m dealing with emotions I don’t fully recognise against a backdrop of a world I don’t fully recognise either!
It’s helping too, to know that much in my new world can’t be measured with exam results; it allows me to value my images for their vision, emotion and feeling even if their execution is weak.