Taking photographs is chili for the brain

Light and shadows, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Curves, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Shadows, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

I'm almost back to normal after the influenza, and I have noticed a serious craving for taking photographs. It is as if I had been starving and can now feast with taking photographs. In fact, the act of taking photographs, or even the act of seeing something which could be a subject of a photograph, generates a feeling of pleasure in the brain.

This feeling is not unlike the pleasure generated by hot chili sauce, which has the effect of producing more dopamine in the brain. One of the functions of dopamine is to produce the effects of motivation and reward.

I have started to speculate that the practise of taking photographs may have activated some parts of the brain generating a feeling of pleasure. If I'm not taking photographs for a day, I have almost withdrawal-kind symptoms (not that I have ever had those), or at least I imagine so.

Of course, I'm usually also getting exercise by walking out in the nature, so some of the feeling of pleasure may be generated by the physical activity. But not all, because the feeling is distinct, of more intellectual kind. It is similar to the feeling after writing a nice piece of text about a difficult subject, a feeling of achievement.

Speaking of writing, it seems that I wasn't angry enough when writing a column about restricting photography in public places. Namely the editor accepted the column for publication. So, it will appear at some point. I get some pleasure also from this. Perhaps the column will help a little bit towards the acceptance of photography as a valuable social function.