Jo Birch

I had always wanted to be a photographer. And many years ago, I bought a gorgeous Olympus SLR which I really loved. However, it soon became really clear that I couldn’t afford the film or the processing, and I didn’t know where to go to learn how the camera worked or any other things about taking photographs.

I didn’t think that photography would ever materialise.

And then more recently, just three years ago, actually, I wanted to go to a retreat centre in Spain and when I looked at the offerings, most of the retreats were quite still – pilates and yoga and writing. But the photograph on the photography week ‘Mindful Photography’ with Ken Scott, showed people walking up the side of a hill taking photographs and I thought maybe… maybe this is the time. So, I researched many cameras that were within my budget and that also seemed to be pitched at someone who was new into digital photography and off I went… and literally, that week changed my life.

You know, what can I say? It’s brought something… although I didn’t want to participate in something still, it actually brought this incredible stillness to my life.

After the mindful photography week. I then did a few terms with David Ulrich, who was then based out of Hawaii, which meant getting up before 5am for our workshops. Then I did some short workshops with the RPS and met Simon Ellingworth, who has been my mentor for a couple of years now. Well, maybe a year. It’s only been three-year journey altogether!

As I said, what it’s brought to my life is stillness.

When I’m with the camera. My breathing changes and I just drop into a different space and see the world differently through the lens. Even if I’m not looking through the viewfinder. I’m seeing with the eyes of the lens if that makes sense. Something is really different in my engagement with the world and with myself. That stillness has been really important to me. When I’m out with the camera. Time is…. just…. a kind of foreverness.

And it’s also a chance to continue the work that I’ve done my whole life in social justice and a challenge for me to ask ‘How can I use this new medium to portray people’s stories, or things that can’t be easily spoken or put into words?’. Perhaps images might be the way to pass that message on to others?

If I were to give tips to other people, I would say be open to the totally unexpected at every stage of your life. There’s no way I could have predicted this. When a door opens for you, just walk through and see what’s there, and it might be something that changes your life in a really wonderful way.