I laze in bed scrolling through endless instagram feeds of photography. I don’t know why I do it. It can be so disheartening. I was reading up on negative bias in our thinking yesterday and they think it was a survival thing. Keep an eye out for what could go wrong. Being a bit fearful kept us alive.

How does that effect us when we start comparing ourselves to others? We focus on the negative things. What I am not so good at, or what they aren’t so good at.

So you try to combat it. Looking for the good, the exciting and inspiring.

I wonder how the medium effects us. Scrolling so fast on a phone. Such a moment in time assessing each one, flicking to move to the next. The flick itself an aggressive act of moving them away from us. The size and scale doesn’t do photography justice. Yet still no instagram app for our eye pads despite 20 billion in advertising revenue.

As creators on their platform we generate the content that makes others wealthy. As observers we click on adds we are bombarded with in momentarily distractions that bleed us of our money with things we never asked for.

I was driving home last week and I was imagining a world where advertising wasn’t included. Imagining a world without advertising. Wondering how it would be like? Would we find out about the new and innovative? The closer multiple products are to each other the harder they advertise made up differences. How would we stop the kickbacks to journalists, advertorials, and sponsoring.

I know these platforms didn’t start out that way, but they have ended up something else. An advertising platform.

So I know what I have to do, and that is either return to my own work or make sure I look at something stimulating and inspirational. Back to some books on the shelves and put the phone down for a while.

Yesterday I was exploring my own work. A wonderful thing that I don’t spend enough time doing. This one popped up. Taken a short walk from home in the middle of Sydney a few weeks ago during that amazing storm. Staring at it, immersing myself in it, takes me away from the negative thoughts and into a world of peace. Am so thankful for having such a passion in my life. One that brings so much joy, love and fantastic people into my life. Feeling blessed.

Sailors Bay, Sydney. Handheld. Photograph and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2020