Week #52

Looking In

Well I've completed another year of the my 52 week photo challenge. Looking back on these 102 pictures, I can see how I have progressed in my ability to "see" what is around me and in my ability to capture it with my camera. 

One of the elements that I love about photography is that there is always something new to learn. One of the photographer/teachers that I owe much of my growth to is Miriam Hall. Miriam is my instructor for my Nalanda Miksang classes.  Miksang is a Tibetan word that translates as "good eye." It is a form of contemplative photography that brings together the art of photography, the discipline of meditation and the Dharma Art teachings of the meditation master and scholar Chogyam Trungpa. Miriam is wise and gentle and has been instrumental in my inner growth as a photographer.

Week #51

Winter Tree With Bird

This week, on December 21st, we will experience the winter solstice. The winter solstice marks the rebirth of the sun and is an important turning point in both the natural and spiritual world. It marks the shortest day when the hours of daylight are at their least. But it also starts the increase in the hours of daylight and darkness becomes ascendent once more.

The natural world shares this reminder to all of us - light will always come back to us and illuminate even the darkest night.

Week #50

Don't Let the Rain Stop You

"Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it."

Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

Week #49

Young Boy in Chinatown

Do you have the patience to wait till the mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?

Lao-Tau - from the Tao the Ching

I often don't have the patience to wait " to the mud settles" but what I have found is that when I do, when I can be centered and mindful and fully present, wonderful images appear. This young boys face reached out to me through the window and caught my heart first and then my eye.

Week #48

Man Feeding the Birds

"At our best and most fortunate we make pictures because of what stands in front of the camera, to honor what is greater and more interesting than we are. We never accomplish this perfectly, though in return we are given something perfect - a sense of inclusion. Our subject thus redefines us, and is part of the biography by which we want to be known."

Robert Adams - Why People Photograph

Week #47

San Francisco - Chinatown

Here is another image from my San Francisco street photography class with Valerie Jardin. I usually shoot my street photography in black and white, mostly because I love the simplicity it brings to the image. Sometimes though the image you are trying to capture calls for the complexity of color. That's when I turn to the classic chrome setting on my camera. This was one of those times.  Using color helps to tell the story of this woman and the world that surrounds her.

See you on the streets!

Week #46

I Feel The Same Way

Friday I was off of work and treated myself to a day long street photography class in San Francisco. Once again, I had the pleasure of roaming the streets with Valerie Jardin and once again, I had the opportunity to spend the day with nine other creative and inspiring students. Spending the day connecting to people and our shared humanity helped bring joy back to my heart. I hope you find time this week to honor the people and pursuits that bring you joy and peace.

Week #45

The Blacksmith

I've been spending the weekend up in the Sierra foothills vacationing with family. On Friday we headed off to Columbia State Park. This is an old historical town that has buildings set up to show how life was in the mid to late 1800's in California. One of the living history exhibits was this blacksmith. He kindly let me hang around taking his picture. It's wonderful to see that some of the old crafts still flourish.

Week #44

After the Rain

"Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more."

Vincent Van Gogh

Week #43

Light On The Wall

"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever.....It remembers the little things, long after we have forgotten everything."

Aaron Siskind

Week #42

Street Reflection

Here is another shot from my Paris workshop. Though street photography usually implies that there are people included in the image, there are times when the urban landscape is enough in and of itself. Here the street had just been washed down leaving this wonderful puddle of water to reflect back the street scene. 

Week #41

Walking to the Louvre

I've just been back home for a few days from Paris but the sights and sounds of the city are still fresh in my heart. What brought me to the City of Lights was a Street Photography workshop taught by Valerie Jardin. What I left Paris with is a new love for this city and most of all for street photography.

We explored many of the iconic sites of the city but Valerie always urged us to try to look in fresh ways, capturing the city as an urban landscape with the human element. This day we were walking into the courtyard of the Louvre. Hopefully I was successful capturing the sense of place but in a new way.

Valerie is a gifted teacher and I would recommend anyone who wishes to explore this area of photography to sign up for one of her workshops. As an extra bonus, the participants are also amazing and fun people that just add to a great experience.

See you on the street! 

Week #40

 

Student Reading by the Pantheon 

 

Bookstore Browsing 

 

 

 Reading on a Sunday Morning

Back home from my wonderful time in Paris. The people of Paris can be found reading everywhere. To support this habit, there are also book shops on every corner. Maybe today I will open an actual book, not my Kindle,  and curl up with a cup of tea and read the day away.

I'll post later this week with more thoughts on Paris and the Street Photography class I took with Valerie Jardin.

Week #39

 Waiting For Time

Today was the first day of our Paris Photography workshop with Valerie Jardin. What a great group of participants and of course how wonderful to spend a week learning from one of the best Street Photographers in the world. Stayed tuned for more images from my week in Paris.

Week #38

My Old Camera Bag

Throughout the summer we have been cleaning out the garage and unearthing wonderful treasures from the past. Oh sure, 90% of what we have found is trash but oh the 10% that isn't! Several weeks ago I came home from work and found sitting in the living room my old leather camera bag from when I was a kid. Seeing that bag brought back so many memories of family vacations and my dad. 

My dad was the first person who got me interested in photography. He had a serious case of what we now call GAS - Gear Acquisition Syndrome. He often took me with him on Saturday mornings to the local camera shop to look at new cameras and talk with the staff there about all things gear. He made sure that I always had a camera and would often joke that I got better shots on vacation with my simple Kodak then he did with all of his fancy gear. My Dad has been gone for over 30 years so I never got to share with him how that early seed of interest he planted in me those many years ago has finally blossomed into my passion. Every time I look at my old camera bag I'll remember the person who sent me down this path.

Week #37

In My Backyard Garden

" When people ask me what the secret is to making good photographs, I say go to the place you know, love and have passion for. It can be as simple as your backyard."

Jim Brandenburg

Week #36

My Week in Images

Sunrise in the Park

Looking Up

Waiting

This week I was on a mission to figure out which of my cameras I should take to Paris. I would like to take just one camera with me so I am deciding between my Fuji XT10 and my Fuji X100T. Both are small cameras, which is very important for me, but one has a fixed lens and the other I could bring along several prime lenses. It's important to me to keep my equipment simple since I don't want my equipment to get in way of the experience. 

For the entire week I shot with my Fuji X100T. This is such a great camera, so easy to tuck in my purse and take with me all week. These images were taken around the town where I live. I tried a little landscape, street, and abstract photography to get a sense of using the camera in a variety of environments. 

I'm pleased with the results so this decision is going to be much harder than I thought. Stayed tuned for next week when I put my Fuji XT10 through the same paces.

Week #35

Side by Side

"Photography is the power of observation not the application of technology."

Ken Rockwell

In a few weeks I will be in Paris taking a week long street photography course with Valerie Jardin. In preparation, I thought I would take my camera with me yesterday as I went out to our local library. One of the concepts that I am working with is what makes an interesting image. There are always people out in the streets, but how do you capture a moment that really expresses the human condition? 

Week #34

The Mar Ray Motel

"No matter how slow the film, spirit always stands still long enough for the photographer it has chosen."

Minor White

I was driving to work one day and as I made my way down Railroad Avenue in the slow school traffic I looked up and saw this shot. I was stopped at a red light so I pulled out my camera and took the picture through the windshield. There is something about the sign for the Mar Ray Motel that always catches my eye.

Week #33

Tea Cup

"It doesn't matter as much where you point your camera as where you point your heart."

Douglas Beasley

Last year I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a day with Doug Beasley learning about his philosophy on photography and practicing my camera skills as we explored the Twin Cities together.  We started the day in his home in St. Paul where he showed me his studio and talked about the basics of photography. After lunch, in one of his favorite local hangouts, we took off to practice what we had spent the morning discussing. Doug is a gentle and wise teacher. I will always cherish the time we spent together.

Doug's book - Zen and the Art of Photography: A Guide to Mindfulness in Creativity has just been updated and rereleased. This gem of a book is filled with the basics of Zen, mindfulness, and creativity and how we can use these practices to guide our photography. You can order the book directly from his site.

Week #32

The Old Railroad Man

This picture was taken inside the Sacramento Railroad Museum. Many "old timers" volunteer at the museum and dedicate themselves to keeping the history of the railroad alive for a new generation. This gentleman is a true living historian.

Week #31

Summer At The Salon

This week, while making a visit to my local nail salon, I had the opportunity to take several pictures of Summer Lee as she worked her magic on my nails. Summer is a beautiful and talented young woman and I deeply appreciate her willingness to let me take multiple images of her while we were together. I hope these images capture her beauty and uniqueness. 

"Learning to identify the heart of your image and then isolate it is key to communicating clearly and compellingly."

David duChemin - Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision

Week #30

Reading on a Sunday Morning

"The visual life is an enormous undertaking, practically unattainable. I have only touched it with this wonderful democratic instrument, the camera."

Dorothea Lange

Week #29

Pictures From the Train Window

I traveled back from Sacramento this week on Amtrak. I find train travel enjoyable and I thought it would be interesting to shoot some pictures while I watched the world go by. The ride takes an hour from start to finish, passing through Davis where UC Davis can be found and Suisun, a little town on the delta. The scenery is a mix of farm and industrial, coexisting side by side. 

Week #28

Paper Abstract

“To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality.It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.” 

― Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Mind’s Eye: Writings on Photography and Photographers

Week #27

Waiting 

Hand

Watching You

While some people prefer to use their phones while they wait for a shopper, I prefer to get out my camera.

Week #26

A Man, a Dog, and a Mountain

"To create is not to simply capture or record; it is to infuse - knowingly, deliberately, and expertly - something of the artist's own mind into the work so that it is elevated not by its literal appearance alone, but by the significance inscribed, stamped, and sealed into it by its creator - a significance that would never exist if it were not for the artist's subjective imagination and skill.

Guy Tal

Week # 25

Aspen Grove

"No matter what your work, let it be your own. No matter what your occupation, let what you are doing be organic. Let it be in your bones. In this way, you will open the door by which the affluence of heaven and earth shall stream into you."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Week #24

Kicking Back On Sunday Morning

This was the last week of my Nalanda Miksang Level II class. In our final week we looked at people and other sentient beings. Here I captured the play of light on the legs - lots of lines and colors.

I have so enjoyed the class and have learned a lot along the way. I want to thank  Miriam Hall and my fellow classmates who shared the journey with me. Miriam has once again created a space to learn, reflect, and grow. Naland Miksang is a practice that will continue to influence my photography and life as I move forward.

Week #23

Impressions

To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at.

Claude Monet

This week in class we looked at Monet and Impressionism in the context of looking at the phenomenal world as the way of the contemplative mind. We studied Monet and the way he used light, water, and nature to capture the the contemplative aesthetic. Monet had a fascination with water and it's reflective properties. My guiding questions for this week was - how does water reflect the world around me and in my photography practice, how does my mind reflect the images I take?

Week #22

Spring Flowers

"When we see things as they are, they make sense to us: the way leaves move when they are blown by the wind, the way rocks get wet when there are snowflakes sitting on them. We see how things display their harmony and their chaos at the same time. So we are never limited to beauty alone, but we appreciate all sides of reality properly."

Chogyam Trungpa - Shambhala The Sacred Path of the Warrior

Week #21

Sun Ray

"When you are able to look at things without saying, "This is for me or against me," "I can go along with this," or I cannot go along with this," then you are experiencing the state of being of the cosmic mirror, the wisdom of the cosmic mirror. You may see a fly buzzing; you may see a snowflake; you may see ripples of water; you may see a black widow spider. You may see anything, but you can actually look at all of those things with simple and ordinary, but appreciative, perception."

Chogyam Trungpa - Shambhala - The Sacred Path of the Warrior

So week three of Level II Miksang has been about the Ordinary Personal World or OPW. The baseline concept is the everything is ordinary and everything is magical. An object does not need to do anything to be this way, it just is. We focused on our personal environment working on how to take a "truer" picture that delivers to the viewer what we experienced in our flash of perception. At the same time incorporating into the experience or creating vs. letting it happen.

Week #20

Roses and Rain

"It is obvious. We see something. But here's the where it's profound: the contemplative practice is to transform the obvious, ordinary experience into an appreciation of the ordinary as extraordinary, the appreciation of it for what it is - the ordinary magic of being alive. It turns out that seeing itself is ordinary and yet completely miraculous."

Looking and Seeing: An Introduction to Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography

 - John McQuade and Miriam Hall

Class assignment this week was flowers and weeds. Seemed easy at first but really trying to capture "what caught my eye" and not my preconceived image of a flower turned out to be quite the challenge. 

Week #19

Man From Above

"Nalanda Miksang's heart is the level two opening of the phenomenal world: the world of sense and sensibility, the world of ordinary magic and everyday beauty. Dot is space simultaneously reveals this resonance. It is the play of surface and depth, or event and space. Dot in space reveals this as it moves from our simple level one experiences into the many expressions of level two."

Looking and Seeing: An introduction to Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography - John McQuade and Miriam Hall

Week #18

Tree and Wall

"Our life is not average. It is unique and sacred and worth fully appreciating. Deep down we know this. Contemplative photography is a way to connect with our contemplative mind, the mind that knows this - the heart that knows this."

Looking and Seeing - Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography - Miriam Hall and John McQuade

I am looking forward to starting Level II of Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography with Miriam Hall this week. I took Level I of Nalanda Miksang last year and have been hoping to have the opportunity to take level II. Contemplative photography is a lifelong pursuit and I feel so blessed to have found such a gifted teacher in Miriam.

Week #17

Airport Reflection

"There is no way, no method, no technique which you or I can use to come into accord with the Tao, the Way of Nature, because every how, every method implies a goal. And we cannot make the Tao a goal any more than we can aim an arrow at itself."

Alan Watts

 My 52 week photo challenge started out as a way to hold myself accountable to working on my photography each week. I made rules up like I had to post every Sunday morning and it could only be a image taken that week. Over the past several months I have noticed that the "goals" of this challenge had not only overtaken the process but left me feeling constricted and not particularly very creative. So in response I think that I will shake things up a bit. I am going to post when I feel like I have something to say - this could be daily or weekly - time will tell. I just know that I want to focus more on the process than the outcome so the goals and rules need to be put aside so that I can stay more aligned with the now.

Week #16

Dancing Trees

"Alterness is the hidden discipline of familiarity."

David Whyte

I listened to another wonderful interview from Krista Tippett. This time she interviewed David Whyte, a poet and philosopher, who looks at how language shapes both our work world and our everyday world. I found that his thoughts regarding the discipline of alertness relates directly to the creative discipline that I embrace in my photography - seeing the world with "beginner's eyes". I urge you to take the time to listen to his profound words and I know that your heart and soul will be fuller for the time spent.