Use Photography to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

You may have heard about the new Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr. movie "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus" I haven't seen it, though I'm a fan of both the main actors and Diane Arbus. My photography teacher in college used to show us slide shows of Arbus' work. I used to wonder what it was like for her to visit all of those seedy places in order to create her famous portraits. I've been to a couple of seedy places in the name of getting an interesting photo (check out my "Goth Prom" folder for an example), but I certainly don't intend to make a career of it. However, I do see the value in using photography to get out of your comfort zone. The boy in the picture above is a great example.

On the day that I was photographing a wedding at Glastonbury Woods in Indiana, I saw this boy run out of a bathroom crying. He was going to wash his hands when he saw a large spider crawling around the sink. God bless his father, because after he calmed his son down a little, he went back into the bathroom with him and snapped a photo of the spider. The little boy carried around that camera for at least an hour to show everyone how brave he was. The next time he sees a spider, I wonder if he's less likely to be scared, now that he has a positive association. Similarly, I'm less likely to be wary of young people dressed in black with spikes and dark eye makeup because I had such a fun time photographing them. Can you think of something that puts you on edge that you might be able to get a better handle on by taking a picture of it?