There are many photography competitions, some provide a very necessary exhibition for cash photographers and rewards, while others raise awareness about a specific topic as climate change. However, there are not many who touch the theme of mental health, although today is such an important issue.
Outside the fog: an international competition of photos and videos organized by mental illness. The Australian Communion: It aims to change that by putting the focus on mental health and helping to “break the associated stigma”, according to the brochure of the competition.
The competition, now in its third year, is currently accepting tickets for its 2021 edition, an excellent way for photographers and video manufacturers to share their experience with mental illness, be it a direct impact or an indirect through friends or Family
Tickets can be both short photos or videos of no more than one minute long, and must represent the participant’s experience of having lived with some form of mental illness. The presentations may represent specific disorders, the recovery process or the indirect relationship of seeing a loved one suffer.
Tickets can also be about the future when mental well-being becomes a significant part of society and the way in which it may be addressed then, there is really no established category.
The fog presentations are closed on September 24, 2021, with the results announced on October 10 to coincide with the week of awareness of mental health. A live exposure will also be held, then it will be taken on the road through the main cities of Australia.
You can find more information about fog, how to enter and your prizes on your website.
Phototherapy can help
Outside the fog is a personal project. The founder and the creative director Micheal Wood has lived with a mental illness for years. While he has learned to manage him and live with him, others are not as fortunate. According to the statistics provided by the organizers of fog, one in 10 people around the world are affected directly or indirectly by mental illnesses.
Researchers have, for years, studied how phototherapy can help suffering, according to a 2018 study outside the United Kingdom Lancaster University, taking at least one photo a day and sharing it online can help improve your mental well-being. Even a selfie can be a powerful release, according to an article published in the journal of psychiatric nursing and mental health. The photograph has saved lives, just ask Bryce Evans, who gave a Tedttalk on the subject.
While phototherapy can be a conscious effort, perhaps recommended by a health professional, taking pictures just because he wants or loving the magic of him behind the scenes.
A personal trip.
More than a decade ago, life took a dramatic turn and hit the background of the rock. There were too many uncertainties and was terrified. And, as expected, stress and anxiety of that time took their number not only mentally, but also manifested physically.
While many doctors worked to bring the physical effects of depression under control, I did not seek help for my mental well-being, I will not even recognize that I had a problem. One day, I just picked up my camera, an old Pessonic Point-and-Shoot with a 18x zoom that is no longer manufactured, and began taking pictures of anything and everything around me, from autumn leaves up The curious in my home. I just were far from the capture of people like that made me feel uncomfortable.
What I realized a few months of complacing with a camera was that I felt happy and free when I was taking pictures. And I have not stopped.
