What If a Photographer’s Fear of Failure Isn’t Fear at All? Psychologist Zahra Ciardi Explains

22 Oct 2026 · 1 h 08 min

Episode What If a Photographer’s Fear of Failure Isn’t Fear at All? Psychologist Zahra Ciardi Explains

0:00 1:08:03

I'm joined again by Zahra Ciardi, a registered psychologist and the founder of Ascendant Bali, for a second conversation about the psychology behind photography and creativity. We talk about what happens when a photographer's identity becomes fused with their work, and why that turns making, editing, sharing and feedback into a constant threat. We also talk about how to hold a sense of self that is clear but flexible. Zahra explains the difference between creating from the wound and creating from wholeness, why healing can mean grieving the emotional charge your photographs once carried, and how to train attention, presence and boredom tolerance when the world runs on 6-second focus.

If criticism of your photography feels like a verdict on who you are, this conversation may helps you how to separate yourself from your work so you can create it, finish it and share it again.

Other things we discussed:

• The chameleon effect: borrowing pieces of everyone around you when your sense of self is empty • Non-attachment, and being the blue sky behind the rainbows and the rain • What gives a photograph its charge • The Body Keeps the Score, and small ways to practise presence • Shame, the defectiveness schema and the 3 ways we cope: surrender, avoidance and overcompensation • MDR, schema therapy, compassion focused therapy and internal family systems • The question Zahra would ask to open the door to all of this inner work

Listen to the first conversation here: https://youtu.be/keUo-Sq5sh8

Zahra's Links: https://www.zahraciardi.com/ https://www.instagram.com/zahra_ciardi/ https://www.ascendantbali.com/

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