Photography Lessons from Unexpected Places

By Kahli April

As I get older and wiser (ha) I’m continuously surprised by the way life lessons appear in the most unusual places. Unexpected analogies while eating breakfast, epiphanies hiding in the grocery store isles and more recently, realizations relevant to photography while mountain biking.

Many people took up new hobbies during covid lockdowns and mine was mountain biking. I have excellent trails right out the back door of my house so I figured it was time to start making the most of them. But as with any sport when learning as an adult, the learning curve was a little steeper than I preferred. Day 1 on my brand new shiny full spec. mountain bike and I was upside down entangled with my bike on top of me, sporting some pretty impressive bumps, bruises, scrapes and a lovely hairline fracture.

So, determined not to give up, I persisted on with the pedalling and slowly but surely, some signs of improvement started to show (I think?). The obvious areas I needed to build on were my strength and skills, I knew these came with time, repetition and a bit of practice. However as I began to overcome those challenges more, there was one other element that was a key player I hadn’t realized before – my mindset.

If I was frustrated, scared, tired, wary etc. my biking skills were affected. Regardless of how I was feeling physically, my mental state took over the experience every time.

I was fascinated that my thoughts had such an overpowering effect on my physical skill, and in realizing this, I was able to try and focus my attention in a more productive way.

Photo by Kahli April.

The most obvious example that stands out is if I had a steep, technical uphill section on the trail ahead, I would get anxious and feel my body tense. As I peddled up, navigating rocks and roots I would lock my arms and ultimately, not be able to steer around obstacles, losing balance. Once I realized I was doing this, I focused on keeping more calm and relaxed my arms and noticed an instant difference in being able to push through these sections.

Once I was able to focus in on times when I thought my mindset was taking over, I began to notice patterns. Repeated problems of similar themes were reoccurring and I was able to identify the link between them. I recognized a repeating fault in my skill as a result of what I was thinking and so was able to come up with a cue to snap myself out of it when I recognized it. I’ve now fine-tuned this into 3 phrases I rely on as a reminder when I feel myself about to succumb to this.

– Keep momentum
– Looking beyond
– Trust

These three little reminders have transformed my mountain biking in a way I wouldn’t have believed otherwise. And of course, as with most lessons in life, they transfer nicely over into photography (amongst other aspects of life) as wonderful tools to turn to when I find challenges with my camera.

Keep Momentum

The second I hesitate on my bike because of that sketchy-looking drop, things get worse. If I keep momentum I maintain a level of flow that allows me to move through the obstacle with more ease. In photography, this applies more in a way of time. During a sunrise, keep my momentum in shooting and trying to improve my composition before the light changes, on a wedding day, by keeping momentum you are keeping your camera up, looking for those one-off moments that only happen in a split second, the difference between getting a shot or missing it. It also helps on a motivational level when I’m lacking inspiration to get out and create.

Looking beyond

This relates to obstacles on the trail. If I fixate on an obstacle, I always end up having an issue with it. Instead, this reminder prompts me to see the obstacle but then immediately look ahead of it, not allowing my attention to focus on it. If I focus purely on the obstacle, most times if I manage to navigate it, I’ll trip up on something immediately after as I was too distracted to see what was coming on the trail ahead of me. I was too locked onto the problem to see the bigger picture. In photography, there are countless examples of where this is relevant but for me, a stand-out is getting tunnel vision for the obvious shot. Often focused on the technicalities of my settings for a long exposure, fumbling with filters, and setting up my tripod when there are actually sun rays bursting through the peaks behind me.

TRUST

For some reason, this is the most powerful out of the three for me. I usually rely on this when I find myself overthinking a tricky section of the trail ahead. It’s a reminder to trust my body, my skills, my muscle memory and my innate response to handle the challenge. Sometimes it’s less about thinking and more about just doing, trusting that I have the skills to do it and letting my body go on auto drive to guide me through the challenge.

Kahli April is a landscape, adventure and wedding/engagement photographer based in Canmore, AB.

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