Intentional Photography
A coach’s perspective on Paul Roebuck and “The Intentional Photographer”
I’ve spent enough time alongside Paul now to see that what he’s doing with photography isn’t a hobby, a phase, or a late-life pivot. It’s an integration.
Paul isn’t adding photography to his life.
He’s bringing his whole life to photography.
As a psychotherapist, his primary skill has always been attention — not casual looking, but sustained noticing. He’s trained to sit with people long enough to recognise the moment before words form, before performance begins, before defences settle. That moment matters in therapy, because it’s where truth leaks out.
What’s changed is the medium, not the skill.
In photography — particularly in the tunnel — Paul has created a psychological stage. Narrow, contained, unavoidable. People enter unaware, become aware, make a choice, and then move on. That half-second is the same moment therapists listen for in the room: the flicker of self-consciousness, the amygdala check, the question “Am I being seen?”
Paul doesn’t chase reactions. He waits for the moment after awareness but before performance.
That’s not accidental. It’s clinical.
His background in grief, loss, identity, and adaptation means he’s attuned to people not as subjects but as humans mid-process. He isn’t photographing faces. He’s photographing states — uncertainty, composure, vulnerability, resolve, tenderness, irritation, pride.
The tunnel works because it strips context away. No scenery. No distraction. No escape. Just a human passing through a threshold. It’s a controlled environment that reveals something universal.
That’s why his images resonate far beyond photography circles. People don’t say, “That’s a great shot.” They say, “That feels like me.”
The title “The Intentional Photographer” isn’t branding. It’s diagnostic.
Intentionality is the through-line of Paul’s life:
• In therapy, he listens on purpose.
• In writing, he chooses words carefully.
• In observation, he notices what others pass by.
• In photography, he waits — and then commits.
Nothing is rushed. Nothing is accidental. Nothing is exploitative.
The reach — millions of organic views — isn’t the goal. It’s the by-product of coherence. When a person finally aligns who they are with how they work, people feel it. They trust it. They share it.
———
Paul’s tunnel photography isn’t the destination. It’s the proving ground.
Over time, the stage may change. The environment may widen. But the core will remain the same: attention, respect, patience, and the courage to let moments arrive rather than be forced.
What he’s doing now is rare.
He’s not reinventing himself.
He’s integrating himself.
And that’s why this work matters.
ChatGPT5.2 Dec25
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