Amateur Photographer

Photograph­y and mental health

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THERE’S much more to AP than camera reviews or tips features. We’ve also reported on the growing awareness of how photograph­y can help with mental health – one of the hottest topics of our age.

Back in February we ran a ground-breaking cover feature on how taking pictures can improve your wellbeing. It included insights from psychother­apists and a big contributi­on from profession­al landscape photograph­er Paul Sanders, who’s bravely battled anxiety and depression. The response from readers was huge, and a large number contacted us with their own stories – it was also one of our best-selling issues of the year.

More and more workshops are now appearing which use photograph­y to help with stress relief and greater mindfulnes­s, including some that are run by AP’s former features editor, Tracy Calder. Mental health charities are also getting involved in this fascinatin­g area, including Mind. In October the charity teamed up with photoprint­ing specialist CEWE to promote a competitio­n encouragin­g more ‘positive’ photograph­y beyond compulsive selfie-taking. According to addiction expert Dr Mark Griffiths, ‘a minority of individual­s suffer negative mental health effects of excessive social media use.’ We’ll be covering this important and wide-ranging topic again in 2019 so please keep sending your stories in.

 ??  ?? Top pro Paul Sanders (above) recalled how photograph­y has improved his mental health – this is one of his images
Top pro Paul Sanders (above) recalled how photograph­y has improved his mental health – this is one of his images
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