The power of photography

Ian Francis lives in North Powys, and was first diagnosed with clinical depression and later bipolar disorder, about 10 years ago. He writes, "I will not lie to you, it has been a hard journey, with laughter, tears and heart ache - you need to keep a good, sometimes twisted sense of humour."

And then he spent £300 on a digital camera, and started to find out more about the power of photography. Ian takes photographs not just of his family and friends, but the landscape in Powys, and describes his experiences of the impact of photography on his mental health vividly: "I love my photography, it released me from my personal hell and helped me along the way. Having met other people with mental health problems, most also have an Unexpected Gift..."

The full article, along with many more photographs, can be seen in this September's edition of the Powys Mental Health Alliance newsletter, which you can read here. (Pages 10 - 11 for Ian's article, "An Unexpected Gift.")

More recently Ian's photography skills have been called on for recording mental health related events in Powys such as the Making a Difference Together day on 16th May 2012. There is also a report on the event in the magazine (centre pages), featuring Ian's photos. And to top it off, he has images on the front and back covers too!

Let us know if you have an Unexpected Gift of your own...