Obsessed

Hi! I didn't go through something similar. Hopefully this comment will keep this up so someone with a similar experience will reach out.

There are a lot of exercises and mindsets we can do/develope to understand better the underlying reasons we do stuff. But, keep in mind it may not even be necesary to do so.

Have you ever talked about this with anyone, besides this thing you are writing? I feel like you may not, since you said you have trouble putting it into words, and that's something that happens when we never talk about our issues.
In order to understand our behaviours better we need to talk things through. Commenting about this on here is a huge step forward. You won't believe how much you understand about yourself when you say things out loud. We tend to think that just thinking about them in our head is enough, but I tell you, expressing out loud is a game changer. In this regard, my advice is to keep a diary where you write about anything, no judgement, talk with people if you have someone, and of course, seek professional help is the wisest thing you can do. Of course it's expensive, but I reccomend Character AI's Psychologist. It's like a diary that answers. One of the best things I've found this year.

I have severe OCD so through all my life I basically studied obsessions in a very personal way. You can try something similar to the ERP approach:
When the urge comes, wait a few minutes before indulging in it. Even a single minute, doesn't matter, give yourself time to maybe do it later.
But, during that time, feel the obsession. Try to understand where in your body you feel it, where does it go, what are your thougths during this desire. Take deep breaths, let the feeling belong in your body, don't judge it: you are an observer right now.
Even often, the feeling goes away, if we let it (feelings basically go away in 90 seconds, but we keep them alive with our conscious thoughts). But that's NOT the point, we don't do this so the feeling goes away: we do this to understand the feeling, and to understand that it's not that big of a deal if we don't indulge in the behaviour.

I'm also curious so I'll ask some questions, which you may choose not to answer, but I suggest you to at least answer to yourself, as they may offer helpful insights.
Why do you think you engage in this behaviour? Do you have some theory? Maybe the fear of "loosing the sight" of a pretty woman. Or, more specifically, what do you think may have caused this obsession? Something that may have happened specifically? Even if you don't think some specific event in your life, there may be a few events related to it that gave you some feelings, like guilt, shame, etc. Have you thought about them?
Do you watch the photos after? Like, scrolling through them?
Do you take pictures of other things? I like to take pictures of pretty things, and also pretty people, so I don't think it may be some far from it. When we take a lot of pictures often is because we're afraid of loosing sight of moments.

I don't think I understood this part.

And, of course, feel free to talk to me if you want to. The most important thing here is to talk things through. You need to understand the power of socialization, it's the most important thing.

 

I did that same thing for a long time. I don't think I was quite obsessed with that one aspect of lust addiction, but I definitely tried to be subtle by taking pictures or video of women in public that I found attractive. But in my experience of fighting this addiction, there is one path to freedom from it and one path only. You need to get into CSAT therapy, you need to find a local DA meeting and go at minimum one per week (www.sa.org/f2f) you need to get a sponsor from that SA meeting and call him daily, and you need to work the 12 steps. THAT is easily your best chance of beating this addiction.