Abstract The article is a personal account of my engagement with some recent neuroscientific theory put forth by Mary Helen Immordino‐Yang (University of Southern California) about the integral relationship between emotion and cognition. Specifically, the research suggests the necessity of engaging students on an emotional level in order to thoroughly engage them cognitively. The article outlines a process of teaching high school photography students the concept of depth of field in the context of the unfolding revelations from my engagement with the brain research. The process was one of trial and error that eventually led to some important insights about teaching and learning in general, most importantly about my own need to engage on an emotional level with the subject being taught.