May 29th - How Photography Can Improve our Mental & Physical Health

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Wellness and Healthy Lifestyle show on your VOCM. Now,
here's your host, doctor Mike Wall.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the show. I'm your host, doctor Mike Wall. Well,
it's the time of year. We can get outside on
our favorite hikes, we can tour around our beautiful province,
and we can spend time in the outdoors with our
friends and family. Now, if you're like me, you probably
like taking a few pictures along the way. I've always
found that taking a photo puts me in the moment
and there's something meditative about it. So I decided to

(00:34):
reach out to some of my professional photographer friends to
see whether they think photography is a good activity for
those looking to improve their physical.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
And mental health.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
We'll be chatting about things like creative expression, focus, stress relief,
connection with nature, and storing those positive memories in our
minds for a later date. These are all things that
resonate with me and also really good for our health. Today,
we'll start our show with Braden King, who's a talented
photographer and document entry filmmaker who's also been involved with
our wellness radio and TV shows, so he is a

(01:04):
really unique perspective. Braiden has traveled around the world with
his camera and his work reflects his experiences. We'll pick
his brain on why creative outlets are his calling. Next,
we'll chat with Kara O'Keefe, a well known local photographer
who also happens to be a pharmacist. She'll take a
look at photography through both artistic and health lenses. And lastly,

(01:25):
we'll chat with Dave Howells, whose work can be seen
all over the province.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
He's had an.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Illustrious career in photo journalism, commercial and nature photography. He'll
tell us some stories about how his work has created
a sense of happiness and connection in his life. We
have lots to cover, so let's get to it.

Speaker 4 (01:43):
Hey Braiden, welcome back to the show. Hey Mike, thanks
for having me. Good to be here. Yeah, it's good.

Speaker 5 (01:47):
This is a different type of topic for us to
talk about. This is not about traditional health and well.
This is about how you bring wellness to what you
do for a living. Can you tell our listeners a
little bit about yourself?

Speaker 4 (01:59):
First?

Speaker 5 (01:59):
Of all that concept, I think it's important to change
up health topics like that, to pit different niches and
allow people to look at health differently.

Speaker 4 (02:07):
Yeah, my name is Braden King.

Speaker 5 (02:09):
I'm a self taught photographer videographer from Saint John's born
and raised. My main focus is in documentary and commercial advertising,
but I also do a lot of passion projects, a
lot of different things with Prince fine art and landscape.
Photography has has sort of been my passion what kind
of developed me into the role that I am in today.

Speaker 4 (02:30):
M hm.

Speaker 5 (02:30):
And I think that's important is that you know, you
do have this sort of multifaceted role, but you're always
got a camera kind of strapped to you. You got
an interesting story of how you became a photographer, though,
do you mind sharing that?

Speaker 4 (02:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (02:41):
Yeah, for sure, And yeah it's always weird, but someone
asks you, like what do you do? Because it's just
like I don't even know anymore. I just like I
take things as they come, and I think, you know,
putting yourself in a box is not the way to
enjoy a career. So how I started, I did the
traditional route, went to university.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
Did engineering.

Speaker 5 (03:00):
Thought that was the way, and it certainly can be
for some people, but it was never really what I wanted.
I always wanted to be some formative of an in
mentor a creator of something. I never really knew what
the road to getting there was going to be like
though I thought engineering might have been the way, but
it turns out it wasn't great. It was a lot
of corporate stuff, things that I'm not really built for.
So I decided to take another path, a passion that

(03:22):
I've I've sort of had my entire life. Like when
I was a kid, I used to take headshots of
my Teddy Bears and stuff, and just when I was
like twelve, and that kind of just led me into
thinking about, oh, maybe I could take photography a little
bit more serious.

Speaker 4 (03:35):
And that's exactly what I did.

Speaker 5 (03:37):
Bought my first professional camera in like twenty nineteen, started
doing some cheap headshots for people.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
I had an act for it.

Speaker 5 (03:44):
I just kept rolling with that and build momentum over
time and met a lot of great people along the way,
and it kind of got me to where I am today.
That's right, and a lot of the way you also
learned different things outside of your trade, right, so you know,
for background for people listening. When we first started this
radio show, Brady did our first promotional video. That's one
of the ways that we really got to know each other.
We're professionally. Now he's the director of our television show.
So you've really been traveling around and learning about wellness

(04:06):
while you're doing your craft at the same time. So
I thought you'd be the perfect person to ask this
specific question, that is, could photography actually be.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
Good for our personal wellness? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (04:16):
I mean it really comes down to how you define
personal wellness. Of course, like a lot of people think
of it differently physically mentally, where to me, it's a
combination of both. And when I think about health in
general connected to my career photography, I do think more
mental health than physical, just because it's unlocked so many
doors for me, and it's something that really gets me
up in the morning, and I think that's a really
important aspect to overall well being in your life. Is

(04:38):
like having a purpose and wanting to wake up in
the morning. I think that does things for people on
a subconscious level, and even on a physical level. You know,
the way you feel. Can you have such a big
impact on your body the physical aspect of photography, you're
always on your feet, but I think being on your
feet and being active and communicating with people, being in
social settings, all of these things combined passion and community

(05:02):
and physical activity, like these are all things that are
are only going to benefit your overall well being. So
I think photography is an excellent career path if you're
considering bettering your well being.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
Yeah, and I think of if you had to take
an out of the path.

Speaker 5 (05:14):
As an engineer, that would have been a relatively static job,
would have been pretty similar circumstances. It would have been
very different than the career you have. Do you feel
like that was one of the main drivers that got
you from doing that more traditional path that you were
actually trained for, yeah, Ima share, Yeah, And I mean
I was trained for it diligently too. Like you know,
you go into these four month work terms to see
what the real working world's going to be like, and

(05:35):
you do that six different times, and every time it
was the same thing.

Speaker 4 (05:39):
Right, it would be in an office.

Speaker 5 (05:40):
Shop, and then like you get you get up for
fifteen minutes every couple hours, but like it's only to
go over to like the snack bar and grab something
kind of unhealthy, drink more coffee just to keep you awake,
and it's just like this isn't natural, this isn't what
people should be doing. This's not how you should be
spending your day indoors looking at a screen, drinking cop

(06:00):
just to keep yourself awake. So yeah, that really trained
me to, I like, really dislike that lifestyle and push
me to take photography more seriously.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
And so we look at that now.

Speaker 5 (06:13):
I mean, obviously it sounds like you're more fulfilled with
the choice you made, of course, and then you understand
the benefits of it. Has it actually made a difference,
you think in your personal physical.

Speaker 4 (06:22):
And mental health guaranteed.

Speaker 5 (06:24):
I just think about my daily life now versus then,
and I'm always going somewhere and I'm always meeting with someone,
you know, I'm never restricted to talking to the same
people on a daily basis, So there's always instances of
myself being pushed out of my comfort zone, whether it's
meeting a new person or having to speak to a
group of people or direct something and go out of

(06:44):
your comfort zone and into a place you've never you
went before. Photography has allowed me to pay attention to
my body more, you know, like I recognize my limits
now from where I can go physically and antally, how
much I can work. But it's also such a beneficial

(07:05):
thing for the mind as well, because when it comes
to having your own business or just being a freelancer,
like you can work when you want to work to
an extent, for sure, but you can dedicate time to
pay attention to your health, to do something for yourself
throughout the day that you might have not gotten that
opportunity for if you're just working a nine to five.
And I think that you know, there's got to be

(07:25):
a reflective aspect to it too. When you get done something,
you go back through all these photos and you have
all these amazing memories. So I was thinking, can you
name any one moment that really stood out to you
and being like, wow, I am really glad that I've
got my camera here and I'm glad I'm get to
capture this because this is going to change my perspective. Yeah,
I mean so many There's there's so many examples, and

(07:50):
there's different types of examples. For instance, like you know,
when I think about us traveling on the show together, man,
like just thank god we were there recording everything, because
you know, every now and then you'll send me something
like an iPhone photo or something and I'm like, damn,
I completely forgot about that moment, Like It's like that's
why you really do it, right, Like you're trying to
capture these moments so you can remember it the way

(08:11):
it was. And I picture us being in India at
this like tomb, an amazing place, like this beautiful courtyard
with a huge like tomb thousands of years old, and
we're just sitting there watching the sunset, capturing photos and
stuff like that. Like it's just like, you know, it
takes you back when you look at it and you
can just remember it exactly what it was. You remember
all the feelings. You're not just visually seeing it again,

(08:31):
but you're you're reigniting that sort of flame that was
in you. And then I think of different things too,
like on a more personal level, just like capturing moments,
family events, different things like that, Right, Like there's something
to be said there about just sort of capturing your
family over the years and seeing them grow and everything
like that. Like that's something you're going to learn to
appreciate a lot when you get older, as all those

(08:52):
small moments. So definitely really blessed to be able to
capture those of the way I can. Yeah, yeah, I
recall that night those humanions too. That was a Yes,
in the center of a really hot day hit Deli.
It was very to cool off, so it felt really good.
Another good reason I love having you travel too. I
get to see all those memories too. We share the
same ones with Sperma.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
That's true. That's true.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
So I mean, you know, if I'm thinking about advice
to young aspiring creative people out there and they're listening
to your story, I mean that's got to resonate with
a lot of people that are probably feeling the same way.
What's your advice to somebody who's like contemplating taking a
creative route. Yeah, for aspiring creatives, you just really need
to think about why you want to pursue a certain

(09:32):
path and what it can do for your life in general. Right, Like,
if you if you're an active person and you love
getting out, you love socializing, doing all these things, then
maybe photography is for you. And whether or not you
think you're you're great at what you do. Sometimes it
doesn't even come down to the fact that you're the
best photographer in the city, in the country, in the world,
Like you don't have to be.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
It's about how you interact with different people.

Speaker 5 (09:54):
It's about how you make them feel that that's where
you're going to really get your name out there, and
that's why people are gonna love your photography, not because
you're the best, but because you have that connection with
people and you're doing what your love and that shines
through and people can recognize that. Now you mentioned yourself,
I've been saying to your photos here and there. I
take photos behind the scenes all the time. They never
look as good as.

Speaker 4 (10:14):
Any of yours.

Speaker 5 (10:15):
However, I do like to go out and I like
that my camera and capture things. What's your advice to
the person's just listening, It's like, you know, can I
just bring a camera and do stuff? Is it worth
just getting out there and being active and trying to
capture that as well?

Speaker 4 (10:28):
Oh guaranteed?

Speaker 5 (10:29):
Right, Like I think the best saying about photography, especially
when I was just starting and I wasn't really getting
paid for anything, it was like, man, it's this excuse
to just get outside or like go somewhere or hang
out with some friends or something.

Speaker 4 (10:40):
It gives you.

Speaker 5 (10:41):
It gives you that task, that overlying task of why
we're even out here. Right. There's a lot of people
out there that are a little antisocial. They're a little awkward.
They need direction, and having photography is such a great
way to just geekt out and do something right, Like
if you're going to go on a hike or like
go out to a viewpoint or something. It gives you
purpose to be out there. I'm going to go out
and take a nice photo sunset. That's going to get
me up out of bit early because I know that's

(11:02):
the only opportunity I'm going to get. But otherwise you
might be like nah, Like I can go out any day.
It doesn't really make a difference. So it gives people,
gives people purpose, and you don't need a great camera
to do it. Everyone has a camera on their phone now,
so like and that camera is great. Like, it doesn't
need to be professional because not everyone's professional. Oh braidon,

(11:23):
I really appreciate you take the time to join me today.
I knew you'd have an interesting perspective when it came
to how well this photography could actually be linked. This
one of those things people might not think of firsthand,
but after hearing you makes a lot of sense to me.

Speaker 4 (11:34):
So thanks for joining me today.

Speaker 5 (11:36):
Yeah, of course, it's great to get the message out
there and talk about something I love and hopefully influence
others to do the same.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
Thanks Mike.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
That was local photographer and videographer Braden King. If you
want to learn more about his artwork, you can find
his website at bkgallery dot co, where he has all
sorts of prints from around the province and his travels
around the world. Now, when we come back, we're going
to talk with photograph for and pharmacist Kara O'Keefe and
she'll explain her philosophy on how photography and health are intertwined.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
We'll be right back after the break. Welcome back.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Today we're looking at photography and how it's a great
way to foster creativity, mindfulness and wellness in our lives.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Let's get back to the interview.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
Hi, Kara, Welcome to the show. Hie.

Speaker 6 (12:25):
Thank you very much for having me.

Speaker 4 (12:27):
I'm really glad you could join me today. I've actually got.

Speaker 5 (12:29):
One of your pieces of artwork directly behind me in
my office right now.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
I love it.

Speaker 5 (12:33):
It's a woodpile and we're going to talk about your
creative expression today and.

Speaker 4 (12:38):
What you do.

Speaker 5 (12:38):
But for people listening, maybe you could give us a
bit of background on your career as a photographer and
what you do.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:44):
Sure.

Speaker 6 (12:44):
So my name is Caro o'peefe. I am a photographer
based out of Newtonnlina, Labrador, born and raised in Saint Phillips,
now living in downtown Saint John's. So I've been delving
into photography since mostly around high school, but my mom
tells me that I showed an interest in photographer creation
very early on in my life. So when I was eight,

(13:04):
I got a little canon short shot owls from Santa
for Christmas. And it's funny because if you look at
some of the old film photos that took when I
was like nine, some of them are actually some of
the same lenscapes that I do now you know a
little bit better now. So it's something that I've always
been interested in.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
Yeah, I love that. I love that.

Speaker 5 (13:22):
And you wear a couple of different hats because you're
also a pharmacist. I think that's important because sometimes you
look at topics about your traditional health and wellness topics
when it comes to you know what people can do.

Speaker 4 (13:32):
So with your.

Speaker 5 (13:32):
Pharmacist lens on and your photographer lens part of the pun,
do you think that photography could actually be good for
people's wellness?

Speaker 6 (13:40):
Absolutely? So, particularly for me as a healthcare professional. Working
in healthcare can be somewhat onerous and can be stressful.
I love my job, but you know, when you're caring
for people that are that are on well, sometimes we
do tend to take all miss healthcare professionals. Even if
we are really good at separating ourselves from our work,
we all need an hour let something to you know,

(14:01):
get us outdoors, get us exercising, something to take our
mind off of the stress of our day. So for me,
photography is a really good outlet. It helps me balance
my job as a pharmacist, and I think it actually
allows me to be a better pharmacist because I have
a better way of decompressing. So you know, I get
to use my left and my right brain, so they

(14:21):
compliment each other very nicely. So I'm lucky to have
both of those those outlets and things that I'm passionate about.

Speaker 5 (14:27):
Yeah, and I think you hit the nail on the
head there when you said an outlet. I think that,
you know, when you look at healthcare compassion fatigue, you're
dealing with people's challenges all the time, very stressful situations
on a day to day basis. People coming into medication
for a condition. Do you find that taking that step
away from work, being able to get behind the camera
cultivates mindfulness in your day to day life. Absolutely, it does.

Speaker 6 (14:50):
It takes me outside of my own head. I find
if I'm you know, outdoors photographing, I tend to do
a lot of landscape and wildlife photography, so I find especially,
you know, if I'm photographing a wild animal or if
I'm walking a part of the East Coast Trail by myself,
I find that very calmon.

Speaker 4 (15:08):
It allows me to.

Speaker 6 (15:09):
Reflect on what I've done during the day. It also
just allows me to be alone in nature. It also
gets me outdoors exercising, so that helps building doorphins. It's
good for my physical health, for my mental health. So
it's it's great in a lot of aspects.

Speaker 5 (15:22):
Yeah, you're definitely talking my language there, and those are
the types of things that people may not think about.
And you know, when it comes to photography, a lot
of the time, the photography we do here in Newfoulantic,
Labrador is exactly like you said, it's wild, like it's
our beautiful surroundings.

Speaker 4 (15:36):
Have you been able to find a.

Speaker 5 (15:38):
Sort of satisfaction in this self expression around it, Like,
does that give you this sort of sense of accomplishment
with your photos when you take something like this is
a great shot.

Speaker 4 (15:47):
People actually got to purchase the stab in their home. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (15:50):
So I get really excited when I feel like I
can accurately reflect my perception of my home and my photographs.
So New Foinline and laborors very unique, Interia rocketed. We
have a very strong sense of community and we have,
you know, very close cultural ties to our communities and
to our heritage. And when I can accurately encompass that

(16:13):
in a photograph, it is something that I get really
excited about. So behind you right now is a woodpile,
which if you were to while past that on a
busy day when you're stressed and you're not really taking
the time to observe your surroundings, you go, oh, it's
just a woodpile, but it's really forcing yourself to slow
down and take note of the small details around you
and like, although that's a shit. So that's something that

(16:35):
we often see in New the Land and we forget
about that or even the way that it's actually birch
So birch wood is something that we associate with Newfoundland.
So you know, being able to find those nuances of
home and being able to reflect them in a photograph
is very, very satisfying.

Speaker 5 (16:51):
Well, I think that's that is really great observation. I
think about this too. I have a shit, we have wood.
I love my birch wood. I dry it out every year.
It's like a science. Do I want to crackly fire
with spruce? Do I want drive? I think that that's
what people are starting to realize these days. It's not
the one size fits all approach. I remember why I
first starting well and somebody had to go to a gym,
and now it's so many different ways people can get

(17:12):
out there and be able to relax and de stress
and things like that.

Speaker 4 (17:15):
And I think that where you deal so.

Speaker 5 (17:18):
Much with what is inherent new Fromlanta Laborador, do you
find that it actually connects you more with the community
and what does that do for you to be almost
an ambassador for representing what we do on a day
to day basis here?

Speaker 4 (17:29):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (17:29):
Absolutely so. I think through photography I've definitely become more
close with my home. It also helps me relate better
to people, you know, when I'm traveling and I'm going
to small communities in Newfoundland because you're appreciating what's in
front of you and what is a part of somebody's heritage,
and people notice that when it's genuine, right, when you
have a genuine interest in what they have to say

(17:52):
in their culture, what their day to day life looks like.
It does definitely feel make you feel more strongly rooted
to your home.

Speaker 5 (18:00):
Yeah, I think that is important, and I think that
it sort of adds this aspect of meaning and appreciation
for the things around us. Is that sort of transferable
to other people? You think about like all the applications
that are there, like Instagram and Facebook, when people were
posted pictures of things they're seeing, it's a whale, it's
the signal hill trail. Do you think that people get
a benefit from capturing those things and sharing them with

(18:20):
other people?

Speaker 6 (18:21):
Yeah, I think it helps us feel more closely connected.
Especially if you're traveling and you see that someone's post
their photo of something that's important to you or something
that portrays their home. They feel like, you know, you're
sharing something together, whether that be a common interest. It
still loves for a place, an appreciation where where someone
is from or for their home, So I think, you know,

(18:41):
it does make us feel more closely connected. I noticed that,
particularly during CLOVID, when we couldn't spend as much time together,
my photos got a lot more shares and I had
a lot more messages from Newfoundlanders from away because they
couldn't come and visit their home and they couldn't you know,
see those things in person. And people really open up
when you when you share something with them that they

(19:03):
can relate to. It does make you feel more close
to that person. So I think it is a part
of our bonding for sure.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
Yeah. Do you do you have any stories about times
or anything you could think of.

Speaker 5 (19:14):
When you use photography as a means of sort of
dealing with something, or you were able to capture something
that really was rewarding for you, that sort of stuck
with you as being like a moment like this is
why I'm doing this from from a personal perspective, I do.

Speaker 6 (19:28):
Actually I got a message from a woman during COVID
and she actually received one of my prints from a
friend while she was away, so she was supposed to
come home to Newfoundland while she was living in Alberta,
and it was a photo of a clothes line and

(19:49):
It was just this very long message that I got
out of nowhere, and I noticed it on my phone
while I was at work, so I said, okay, i'll
read this later. I don't think I have enough time
to read this in detail. And then there was a
couple of voice notes after words, which you know, is
not something that you commonly get from somebody who you
don't know, and I kind of ran down through the

(20:10):
note and she was basically apologizing for getting emotional in
the voice note that she was about to send me,
so you know, then I was like, Okay, I don't
really know what this is going to say. But it
turned out that this flows line belonged to her aunt,
who had passed away while she was gone away, and
her friend didn't actually realize that it was her aunt's

(20:31):
clothes line, but it happened to be in the community
that she grew up in, and yeah, it was. It
was very emotional, and I'd also had a very emotional
day at work in the pharmacy. We had a few
people who had some bad news. So we had Motel
patience come in and had been diagnosed with cancer. Another
person whose family member was dealing with some pretty troublesome

(20:52):
cardiac issues, and it was very overwhelming. I started to
tear up on the feard made me feel very lucky
that I get to have an impact in people's lives
in very different ways. So, you know, as a healthcare
professional where they only see people when they're very vulnerable,
but as an artist, when you portray somebody's following and

(21:16):
when you can capture an image that's very important to someone,
you're helding someone in a different way. So it made
me feel very privileged. Should I get to have that
sort of impact in someone's life, even when you are
cogniz about it yourself and you don't realize what's happening
somebody's houses that you're photographing, that could be something that's

(21:36):
extremely important to someone. To me, it's beautiful, it's a
beautiful color, the architecture is nice, but that might be
something very emotional for someone else. So it's always fun
to find those little nuances and startographs.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
Should take it.

Speaker 5 (21:50):
I love that, and that for me is somebody is
a health and wellness person. To hear that from somebody
like yourself who has a perspective from both sides, really
is reassuring that. Yeah, I think there is value to
these types of artistic to get questions from people. And
I guess that's the question I would end with, is
that you know, if somebody's listening to this and they
may not have the same natural talent and the equipment
that somebody like yourself may have, what would be your

(22:11):
advice for them about using something like photography as a
means of helping their overall wellness.

Speaker 6 (22:17):
Yeah, so just find something that excites you, find something
that you like photographing. Just go out with a camera.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
It can be.

Speaker 6 (22:25):
Even your phone and take photos. You know, it gets
you out of your house, It gets you outdoors. If
you're lucky to be from a place like Lynphant Line
of Laborator, we have i mean thousands of photo opportunities
just in our own backyard.

Speaker 4 (22:38):
But it does.

Speaker 6 (22:39):
It gets you outside and you know, take a moment
to appreciate what's around you. Slow down on your walk,
you know, stop and smell the flowers. I know it
sounds cliche, but it really does have a big impact
on you when you can take a moment to appreciate
your surroundings and you'll notice how many mutipl nuances we
have around us.

Speaker 5 (22:57):
And you know, if they need ideas, they can individuals
like yourself who have been able to capture it so well.
And if they wanted to follow you on your social channels,
how can they do that?

Speaker 6 (23:07):
So I post most frequently on Instagram. So on Instagram
I'm at caras ok a r a okay ok e
e f e and on Twitter where I eat more
so about pharmacy and healthcare related things.

Speaker 5 (23:20):
I'm care okee fard dot Well. Thank you so much
for joining me today as a pleasure, and keep up
the good work. Continue to fill the walls of our
house with all your beautiful prince, thanks for joining me today,
Thanks so much.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
Today we're looking at how photography is a great way
to foster creativity, mindfulness, and wellness in our lives and
may be a great alternative to many of our traditional
wellness activities.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
We'll be right back after the break. Welcome back.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
Today we're looking at photography and how it's a great
way to foster creativity, mindfulness, and wellness in our lives.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
Let's get back to the interview.

Speaker 4 (23:57):
Hey Dave, welcome to the show. Thank you very much.

Speaker 5 (24:01):
I'm glad you could join me today. We've known each
other for an awful long time. I've always been really
interested in all your stories and I like get to
pick your brain about something I love, and that's health.
But for the folks that don't know you, that are
tuning in, maybe it could give us a little bit.

Speaker 4 (24:12):
Of background about yourself and your career. Okay, I'm I'm
now in the I guess people say the swan song
of my career, but it barely seems like I've got started.
To be honest with you, I've been a pro photographer
for thirty years. The beginning of that, I was in
the UK for the first first five years working for
the British newspapers, chasing people like Charles and Camilla and

(24:37):
June Brant and Liz Hurley, sort of the classic mid
nineties Bruttish newspaper life, which was very exciting, ridiculously stressful.
And then in ninety seven I got a job opportunity
to go to New York, which is meant to be
a year, and that lasted for nearly fifteen years, which
again it was very exciting. It was a young men's game.

(25:00):
I was easily doing one hundred thousand miles a year.
I got to a million miles by the time I
was forty, and that allowed me to do stories that
you know, you have to have good clients launched to
get good stories and have access to people. So I
photographed presidents, prime minister's, rock stars, film stars that as
a news photographer, you know, I did it at all. Basically,

(25:23):
I don't think there's anything I left off the table there,
which was great, you know, and but like I said,
it was mentally utterly draining. Physically was just hideous. I
had a special time where two bags I used to carry, well,
each one was about thirty pounds, okay, but I had

(25:43):
this amazing trick to make it look like they only
weighed four pounds each. But I mean physically I was
an absolute mess. And I'm still a bit of a mess.
Shall we say. It's my shoulders every massage therapist worst nightmare.

Speaker 5 (26:00):
But I want to get into that stuff too, you know,
and like I want to break it down, You've had
a really interesting career because that type of work that
you did, that really high intensity chasing people around, getting
those those one of the big papers, flying and places.
You still do a lot of really big projects, but
they're different now. It's a different style photography.

Speaker 4 (26:16):
It is. And it's funny because one of the things
that I'm most proud of is my ability teachers have
grown creativity in a vactuum in that somebody has described
me as a gregarious loaner, and that's pretty much that
sort of hit the nail on the head really in
that obviously I like people. I'm very interested people. My
mother always said is like treat others as you wish

(26:38):
to be treated, and you'll never go wrong. And I
tell you, if that's the best bit of advice I've
ever been given is certainly in the newspaper world, and
certainly as I know now, is that you know, you
don't often have ti a lot of time to get
people what you call on side, is it? You know,
Let's say now I work for a lot of very
big industrial corporations. Are Exolobil and Rio Tinto and Fortis

(27:02):
and Sonovis are the sort of four big ones I
regularly work for. And it's a very different life in
that that you do a few big projects every year
or every couple of years, so you know, and you
know what's going, you know. With the newspaper business, I'd
have my bags back and the phone would go and
it'll be are you free and you say yes, I said, okay,

(27:22):
get to New York. Where are we going? We're not
sure yet? Yeah, and that and so the level of
flexibility you had to have on that job was you
didn't know where you were going, how long you're going
for often who are you photographing? I mean I remember
getting to you look and I didn't know whether I
was going to Dallas, Arizona, or like Montana or whatever

(27:43):
it was. And you have to there's a mental ability
there to be very, very flexible, which has stood me
a very good stead for what I do now. But
essentially nothing has really changed. The only thing is now
it's a lot more relaxed. I'm allowed to spread my
wings in the creative world. But essentially you're dealing with people. Yeah,
you know, you're dealing to how how do you deal

(28:05):
with people? How do you get people to do what
you want them to do without them really knowing that
you're doing it. It sounds like trickery, but it's not.
It's just general not being a jerk. I feel like
that's a big part of it.

Speaker 5 (28:17):
I think that you know, being mindful of when you're
dealing with people, when you're trying to capture natural situations
and trying to really see what's happening without making people
feel anxious because they're on camera. That's aspect of mindfulness
that probably taken a while for you to develop. You say,
a high stress job, but you are a relaxed guy.
Now we've known each other quite a while, I would
you know you're you're always friendly and have time for people,

(28:38):
which is really important. How are you able to create
this sort of mindfulness in your life and in what
you do?

Speaker 4 (28:46):
Well? I'm very lucky to do what I do because
I literally fail that everything else. I'm when university drop
out very well at school I did. I'm I was
very good at what I love doing. Uh and I
had no interest in anything else. And so as I
always say that this was plan B, much wasn't much
of a plan AI either, to be honest with you,
but plan B was certainly this had to work otherwise

(29:10):
that I don't know what I'd be doing, to be
honest with you, but it's a very unusual set of skills,
and I realized over the years. You know, I photographed
a lot of very famous people, and they're very interesting,
but a lot of times they're interesting because of what
they do, not who they are. And the most interesting
people I've ever photographed are not famous Joe blows. And

(29:34):
everybody has a story. And there's a challenge there, and
I've said this a thousand times, is that most people
can photograph what people look like. Very few people take
portraits of who they are. And that's the skill I have,
is to get who you are out and the way
I've done it is called the Dave Show. And it's

(29:55):
a sort of distraction, a lot of talking, a lot
of stupid jokes, a lot of this that the other.
Photography is a very invasive career. You know, I am
making you stand in front of me, and even if
you've been photographed a lot of times, it's still nerve
racking because you know, you're putting yourself out there. And
the whole idea is is to try and make it
as relaxing, as easy going as possible. But I actually

(30:17):
am genuinely interested in what you do and who you are.

Speaker 5 (30:20):
So I think that's an important point though, because that
to me sounds like flow state, you know, like when
you are in the moment, you're able to draw these
things that will make other people feel comfortable around you, Like,
is that something that you get from your photography work
is being able to be in that zone?

Speaker 4 (30:36):
Well, you know what it is. I've always said I'm
extremely lucky and I'm very lucky to do this that
allows me to sort of combine what's sort of a trade. Really,
I suppose I'm using machines, you know, with a with
a very artistic bent to the side of it, and
I get to interact with people. I mean, I'm one

(30:56):
of those nightmares that you don't want to sit next
to on a plane because I'm like, oh, well, where
are you going or where are you coming from? And
I do want to know people's stories. And it's not
just because I'm bored sitting on a plane. I actually
do want to know. It's funny. Years ago, my wife
said to me, you know, the most important thing is
about making people look good. That's the goal, right if

(31:19):
you want to be a career's portrait photographer, which is
essentially what I have, is you've got to make people
look good. And she said, it's that's not done with
hamras and lenses and lighting in this set the other
it's done with you. It's how you get people to
relax and you tell people what to do. It look left,
rook right. Everybody has slightly better sides. But I remember

(31:41):
when I started, you know, buying lenses that weren't really
sharp and weren't super contrasting. It weren't the best lenses
in the world, but they had this magic feel that
they give you and as and when I started doing that,
but well I've won. So the one of the famous
stories is I basically retired out to the editorial world

(32:02):
and I moved to Newfoundland and the Telegraph London called
me up and said we want you to do a job.
And I said, well, you know, I'm in Newfouland and
they said, does about it. You'll want to do this.
It's photographing George W. Bush in Dallas. And I was like,
you're right, I do want to do that. And he said,
the good news is we have it out, and the
bad news is you have sixty seconds. And I'm like,

(32:27):
you know, you have this sinking filing. But one of
the great things about about the news business is you
can learn to photograph extremely quickly. And so when I
get there and you know, I'm not normally nervous about this,
I've done this a thousand times, slightly sweaty palms. I
was checking everything and the guy messages me in and says, right, okay,
your minute starts down. And I did a couple of
pictures and he was great. But I realized what I

(32:49):
needed to do was get something out of him, and
so I told him a slightly off colored Joe and
he burst out laughing, and I went, click click click,
click click, And that's the shot that is. It's an
amazing email. I say it myself, It is an amazing
shot because you never get to see these people really
roaring with laughter, and you know, and I knew that
he would find it funny because he's he's that guy, right, yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (33:12):
And then bizarrely, at the end of this, we then
had a chat about photography. Fifteen minutes yeah, And I
said to my wife, it's like, oh god, do you
imagine if I had fifteen minutes to do what I
could have done with that? And she said, well, you'd
have fifteen minutes to f it up, wouldn't it. If
you realize you have a minute to do something, then
you think, Okay, what is the purest bit I can

(33:33):
do here? What's the purest image I can get that
I want to get. I'm not going to do this.
I'm not going to do That's not important. What is
the one image I want to get and that's what
you're aim for. And again that's been very important learning
wise in it. Even now that I have a lot
of time to do stuff. I mean, this sum has
been nuts flying all over the place, But essentially you
still don't have a lot of time to do stuff

(33:56):
because people are busy working. You know, there's a lot
of you know there in a mine they called adopt
for two hours to photoshoot. You said, we'll have thirty seconds.
And again it goes to your mental stage in that, uh,
you sort of cut out what you don't need, Yeah,
and you oh when you do what you do need.
And that's again works with life lessons, no matter it's

(34:17):
just no photography, it's it works for everything.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
Today we're looking at how photography is a great way
to foster creativity, mindfulness, and wellness in our lives and
may be a great alternative to many of our traditional
wellness activities.

Speaker 3 (34:30):
We'll be right back after the break.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
You're listening to what we broadcast of the Wellness and
Healthy Lifestyle Show with Doctor Mike Wall Listen live Thursday
nights at seven pm and Sunday's at four pm.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
Welcome back.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Today, we're looking at photography and how it's a great
way to foster creativity, mindfulness and wellness in our lives.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
Let's get back to the interview.

Speaker 5 (34:53):
You've talked about connecting with people and understanding human nature.
I think that's a really important message that having this
lens and having this opportunity to capture things is important.

Speaker 4 (35:02):
You do a lot of nature photography as well, not
just people.

Speaker 5 (35:05):
Is there have you fostered a better connection with the
environment and things like that by spending time with that part.

Speaker 4 (35:10):
Of the world, not just people. If I was being
bruefally honest, if I hadn't moved to Newfouland, I would
never take you a nature picture of my life. I
you know, like a lot of photographers, I said, oh,
I want to work for Nature Geographic in this and
then of course you realize that they don't make any
money and I have to make a living and it's
a bit of a pine and sky type sort of situation. However,

(35:32):
Newfland is one of the most extraordinary places on the planet.
We are so blessed to live here. I mean, it's
if I have a stressful day, and the stressful days
don't happen very often. To be these days is I'm
in a great position, and I'm very very lucky to
un touching ward here right now. But sometimes there are
stressful days when things haven't gone quite just blend and

(35:54):
just to be able to go out to Middle Cove.
We'll go out to signal HLLE or whatever it is
and smell that and there's there's that density of that
thick air that we have here and you look around
and you just realize it's like, you know, it's all fine,
What are I complaining about?

Speaker 1 (36:09):
You?

Speaker 4 (36:10):
You know, by the free to my birth, I'm already privileged.
And I really understand. It took me a long time
to get there to understand that that. You know, I've
been given so many advantages over the years, you know,
doors of oth of me because the way I sound
or the way I look or whatever it is, and
I just thought of because I was brilliant, And it's like, no,
actually that's not the case. But when you realize they say,

(36:32):
I'm out on a boat photographing whales. If we don't
see any whales, it doesn't matter. Yeah, a boat in
the ocean with salt water on your face. I mean
people come here and they spend tens of thousands of
dollars to have that experience. Me and my body's jump
in the car and go do it as a matter

(36:52):
of course, as if it's like, you know, you want
to go and see some whales. Yeah, sure. And you know, again,
I'm very lucky. I'm very very grateful. And again my
mother was always said, you've got to be grateful for
everything you've give them. And if you go through life
with a sense to brave, listen that you know, Yes,
you sped a you know, one hundred and some more
bucks to try and get pictures. Well, and it didn't

(37:13):
really work out, which is sort of a beautiful sunset. Yeah,
there's no any with friends. That's the other thing about Newfoulan.
The sense of community here is extraordinary. And I grew
up in the tropics, you know, Caribbean and Africa, which
is why my skit is so messed up. We moved
every three years and people always say where are you from,
and so moving here was a huge part of this.
I wanted my daughter to be from somewhere, and you know,

(37:37):
there's nowhere better than neufl It. In my opinion, this
place is a magnificent mess of culture and creativity and
nature and everything. There's nowhere like it, literally nowhere like it. Well,
I think that's important. First of all. I know, community
is so important.

Speaker 5 (37:53):
I mean, we see each other all the time, We
read each other actually in a place that was not
natural at all. That's time I saw you was the
airport at Pearson And that's kind of got me thinking
about this topic. But let's dial down to like the
general population here for a second. We talked a very
illustrious career. You've done all sorts of things. But for
the average person, like what can they get? You know,
even if they can't take a Dave Howell's photo by

(38:15):
going out there and then picking up a camera and
going and looking at that sunset or trying to see
that whale with a highly pixelated screen from the cliff,
do they still get something out of being immersed in photography.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
Yes, it's the photography itself is a little unles I said,
I'm doing. The wildlife stuff is almost secondary to the
benefits of being there. That's the great thing. About photography
is and this is why I used to travel somewhat
is you have to be there to photograph it. You
don't do it on a telephone like a robortic an

(38:49):
all this the other You actually have to physically go there.
And you know, uh, the best camera is the one
you've got on you. I mean, I have a lot
of very big lenses because it's my job and I
have to get good pictures otherwise I'll get paid and
Missus Howells would not be very happy with that. But
it's funny. There's a movie called Waltermitty. Love It, you know,

(39:10):
love it? Right? Okay, yeah, Now there's an original Waltermitty
that was made in the fifties. And my dad used
to say to me, oh, David, you're such a Waltermitty,
always dreaming, and he was right. I didn't get in
photography until I was in my mid twenties. I spent
so much time dreaming and I want to do this,
I want to do this. And it's funny. I actually
look not unlike Shawn Pain in that movie with my

(39:33):
long hair. I'm like, yeah, you know, it's like were
brothers or something. And one of the things he does
in that film is that he doesn't take the picture
at the end of the snow leopard. And often I
find myself put in the camera down and just looking
and just enjoying being present in the moment. I've taken
a million pictures, you know, if it's if it's, and

(39:56):
I'll obviously i'll drop a frame and then I'll just
just enjoy the moment. And if you'd asked me this
ten years ago, utter rubbish, being present, mindfulness, all this.
You know, I was a cynical, cynical newspaper photographer and
I'd seen some absolutely horrendous things and I didn't have
a lot of faith and a lot of things, to

(40:16):
be honest with you. And then since moving here, I've
I guess I've got a bit soft if the truth
been known. But if you're a present in the moment,
what are you doing? You know? And it's it's a
huge part of even just for a couple of minutes,
and that's the beauty. You see, there's going to be
a nice sunrise. Got the signal hill you want to
take a picture. Often I don't take picture. I just

(40:37):
go up there and just see the sunrise and just
be like, wow, this is absolutely extraordinary. You know, I
always say, it's not what the pictures look like, it's
how does the picture make you feel? That's the important bit.
It's what there's a feeling that it generates. If it
doesn't generate a feeling out of you or an emotion
out of you, then you've failed. And that can be

(40:58):
a portrait or a lensca, whatever it is is that's
what you're trying to get at. And if you don't
have yourself in a mental state to be able to
try and sort of almost accept that into you, Yeah,
it's you see the world how you see it, and
nobody else can see the way you see it. It's
like when I'm flying, I always think it's like I'm
never going to see this view again. Yeah, clouds will

(41:19):
change and it's like it's gone. That moment is gone.
And I pride myself on having a phenomenal memory of
places I've been, and ima images are in my head basically,
and I never took them. They're just in my head.

Speaker 5 (41:34):
And that, you know, that's one of the things I
think is so important that I remember. We were traveling recently,
we did a bunch of long exposures on sunsets and
it forces you to stay there for the entire sunset
in a way that you may have been looking at
other things, and but now your president, you're there. And
I think that's something that I've gotten note of photography,
being a crummy photographer with somebody who likes to snap
a pick. You know, I could go down rabbit holes
view all day long about these different aspects of it,

(41:55):
but I think that's the one thing that's really sto
out to me.

Speaker 4 (41:57):
I want to sort of finish on right here.

Speaker 5 (41:58):
My sort of last question is that you know, you've
come from away like I have, and we found our
way in community, and you founduating community by doing something
you love and contributing and giving back, and it's allowed
you to make an enormous amount of connections with people.
Everybody knows you in town and you know everybody else yourself.
How does doing something you love impact the people around

(42:19):
you and allow you to find.

Speaker 4 (42:20):
Your little niche in the world. If you're happy, everywhere
else around you is generally happy too. And I've always
been a happy guy, I mean not always. The big
thing is is that if you're happy, then like I said,
other people generally are happy around you. And it's like I'm,
you know, a pretty chilled out guy. It's all good,

(42:43):
you know, the worst it's you know, you know, I
think bad things have happened. Of course, bad things happen
to everybody, and you just have to be able to
ride that way through it and realize that there's you know,
there's brighter days ahead. And and you know, the big
thing is with I love what I do, I would,
I would. I still, like I said, I coul't believe
I get the chance to do this, and I get

(43:05):
to do it at a very high level. But I've
said this a million times, is that Newfoland is an
incredibly creative place. By my far, the most creative place
I've ever worked. And one of the great things about
being here is I was a loner and being in
Newfland working with other creatives and collaborating almost is so

(43:30):
against my inner I just let you grind my teeth
just talking about it. But it has been one of
the most wonderful things. It's opened up a whole new
avenue of hyper creative photography or the opera on the
album on studio versus stuff and things like that. And
to be able to sort of, you know, produce work
that you never thought that you could be able to

(43:50):
produce because you're working with people that help you get
that vision to the end result and you realize that
you can't actually do it by yourself and you have to,
you know, in the age of fifty five, grow up
a bit and ask for a bit of help. And
it doesn't matter what creage of business or whatever your business.
If you don't grow, then the opposite of that is stagnation,

(44:12):
and you're never going to get anywhere. And that's the
big thing. Is gross in your work and gross in
your career coincide, we gross in who you are. Basically
it all goes together. Yeah. Well, we've had.

Speaker 5 (44:24):
A lot of good points here, you know, community, being inspired,
getting to know people and connecting and then happiness and
I love all those things to Dave. You know, I
really appreciate you taking the time to join us today.
I think it is really interesting to hear your stories
as always, and I look forward to seeing you for
a coffee data tear some time a week.

Speaker 4 (44:41):
Anny time, my pleasure.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
Thank you to Braden Carrat indeed for joining me today.
Throughout our chance, we learned how photography can help our
creative expression, focus, stress, relief, connection with nature, and store
those positive memories for a later time. It's interesting how
each of our guests has reinforced the idea that photography
can and serve as a powerful tool for promoting wellness
in our lives. I hope our conversations have inspired you

(45:05):
to pick up the camera and embark on your own
photographic journey. Remember, photography is not just about capturing images.
It's about immersing ourselves in the present moment, finding joy
in the process, and discovering new perspectives. So keep snapping
those shots and stay inspired. I'm your host, doctor Mike Wall.
We'll see you back here next week for another episode

(45:26):
of The Wall Show on your vocm