Urquidez explains that people function like a radio that's constantly picking up frequencies. You walk into a shopping mall in a good mood and come out irritated, without knowing why. His answer: You've absorbed foreign energies and mistaken them for your own. The anger of the stressed salesperson, the frustration of the crowded checkout line — it all ends up in your system.
The trick is asking yourself: "Does this emotion really belong to me?" If not, then there's foreign energy at work. And then there's that one voice — the voice of the soul, as he calls it. Not the thousand doubts and fears in your head, but the one that truly knows what to do.
Sounds like esoteric nonsense? I thought so too. Until I realized I've been experiencing exactly this for years while photographing.
Take a typical shoot. A model arrives on set and immediately I sense it: nervousness. But is it mine or theirs? Usually it's theirs, which I absorb and then interpret as my own. I become more restless, ask more questions, explain too much — classic symptoms of foreign energy.
I used to sell this as "good preparation". Today I recognize it for what it is: I'm letting their insecurity infect me instead of staying grounded in my own calm.
The interesting twist comes when you ask yourself: "Am I this nervousness?" No, you're not. You're the photographer who's known how to make images for years. The nervousness doesn't belong to you — it's just visiting.
Once I recognize this, I can consciously decide: Do I accept this energy or not? I choose not to. And suddenly the shoot becomes more relaxed because I'm back to being myself.
But it goes deeper. Urquidez talks about the "voice of the soul" — that one true voice that knows what to do. In combat, it decides between victory and defeat. Now I have to smile because it's somewhat amusing to compare kickboxing with photography. But let's continue. Fighting is about victory or defeat. Photography is about magic or mediocrity.
The problem in nude photography is that we constantly hold ourselves back. Too much head, too little gut. We brake ourselves because we're negatively influenced by foreign energies like social media (with artificial restrictions on our free art). The head voice is stronger than the soul voice. That's why I swear by gut instinct.
The question is: How do you manage to stay with your own energy?
How do you distinguish the voice of the soul from all the noise in your head?
It probably only works with practice. Before a shoot, I tune into myself and ask: "How am I really doing?" Not how I should be doing or how I want to feel. How I'm really doing. That's my baseline. Everything that comes later — nervousness, stress, euphoria — I check against this baseline. Does this feeling belong to me or not?
This isn't esoteric. This is craftsmanship. Energetic craftsmanship, if you will. And like any craft, it gets better the more you practice it.
You can see the same thing in sports, by the way. Why does a soccer player suddenly stop scoring goals when he hasn't managed it for ten games? Why does another despair at the penalty spot? The technique remains the same, but the energy has changed. The head takes over, the soul falls silent.