Have you ever settling down looking at photos? How often do you use photos in your job? In Finland Miina Savolainen has development the method of ”Empowering photography”. At Savonia in the international and multidisciplinary studies MultiPro2019 students carried out the process of photographing in Green Care course exploring the empowerment of the favourite place.
The nature is our favorite place. The silence, beautiful landscape, nature sounds and the fresh air gives you strngth and relax.
Salla-tunturi (photo by Horst Reiter)
We would like to keep the pictures natural as possible. But it is hard to get the same feeling just out of a picture if you haven´t been there. I can just show you the picture and describe what I was feeling and how does it feel if you would be there. However a good picture is worth a thousand words.
There is always a connection with the photographer and the model. Chemistry between these two people is crucial to capture the message of the photo.
A water experiment (photo by Horst Reiter)
When we graduate, we will be working in different fields. The teachers could use this method to motivate the students. In psychotherapy it is very hard to start a productive conversation especially with group therapy. It is a lot easier to use picture material as a starting point of a conversation. In foster care you could use the method as it was created, to empower the clients.
This type of green care is new for every one of us. We think this could be a nice technique opposed to other methods.
We will keep practicing on that and try it out in future as much as possible.
Everyone has a different view of beauty and how they see their presence in a photo. It also shows that each of us has a different relationship with nature.
When we were walking in the nature and felt good and relaxed in the fresh air and snowy landscape it was really hard to show the magic on the photo and all the emotions we were experiencing at the moment.
Finding that special place. Nature has a lot to offer when it comes to scenery and it was very hard to find only one special place. After finding the place the problem was finding the right time, the right lighting and sun position.
Some of us love the summer time more than winter and the personal mood was also very important.
You cannot just go somewhere and say this is the place I want to take the picture, you must find this place.
You have to feel good in your own skin and relaxed at the same time. Only then you can say that you found one of these places.
Rudolph in Salla (photo by Horst Reiter)
Empowering photographing has a lot of maneuvering and its use has a lot of possibilities for all kind of people. It is important to do this without pressure or in a hurry. Just like most thing in life you have to practice to get better and better. The prize of that is a perfect picture.
The writers
Nina Jovanovic (School of Advanced Social Studies in Nova Gorica, Slovenia)
Horst Reiter (Hochschule für Agrar- & Umweltpädagogik, Austria)
Klaudia Harler (Hochschule für Agrar- & Umweltpädagogik, Austria)
Theresa Heidl (Hochschule für Agrar- & Umweltpädagogik, Austria)
Riikka Rissanen (Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Bachelor of Social Services degree, Finland)
A Senior Lecturer Anne-Leena Juntunen (Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Social Services, Finland)