I’m at BlogHer today, likely being exposed to aspects of blogging that will amaze me, and I’m hopefully setting my social ineptness aside long enough to actually meet some of my sister bloggers (and the few brother bloggers that dare to attend BlogHer). Since I’m out and about, I have another guest blogger for you today, Henry from the blog, D and the Guy. Henry took me up on my offer last month, and in the spirit of my love of art and belief that creative expression is as much a tool for living happily and healthily with diabetes as your meter and ability to count carbs, he offered to write about how photography is connected to his life with D.

Today I want to talk about a topic that is very different to the ones I usually touch on D and The Guy. Instead of a story about my day to day dealings with D, today I want to talk about one of my hobbies, Fine art photography. More importantly, I want to talk about how photography helps me better manage my diabetes.

Hand in Globe

I started making fine art images well before being diagnosed. I, therefore, never imagined that the principles and practice of photography would be one of the tools that would later become key in my toolbox for managing D. The reason why this area of the visual arts has the potential to help lies both in the materials used but also in the internal processes and dialogs that happen inside me when I’m out taking pictures or alone in the darkroom.

Photography is an art that relies in technology. Very sophisticated high precision equipment is often used to make high quality negatives. There is, however, also a dependency on organic chemicals. Developer, fixers and toners can only be controlled to an extent and variability is inevitable. Is this mix of high precision and lack of control that has helped me deal with the realities of a life with D. Knowing that the outcome can only be controlled to an extent has helped me accept that even if we do everything right, I’m sure to have the odd unexplained low or high.
Photography has also taught me that technology is a great tool for minimizing this variances, and hence the reason why today I’m wearing a pump and the newest blood glucose meter available in my location.

My art has also helped me at a deeper level. In art it is imperative to listen to your inner self. Is this process that guides you to your real motivations, and in my case brings me closer to an answer to universal questions; who am I? why am I hear?. This process is not only important in general, but also because it has taught me to shut up my mind and listen deeper… I’m I hypo? am I feeling OK?

I’m traditionally a left brained individual with training in engineering and business. It is my involvement with art, however, the one that has brought balance to my life… my life with D.

Leaf - Closeup

I love to hear about people’s forays into artistic expression, and in the interest of inspiring others to explore their inner artist (we ALL have one!), a huge thanks to Henry for sharing his thoughts on photography and diabetes and letting us see some of his work. If you haven’t checked out Henry’s blog, please visit D and the Guy, a blog about diabetes and the guy that lives with it.