Week #28 Photo Challenge

Curved Lines

The bells and stones have voices but,

unless they are struck, they will not sound.

- Chuang-Tzu

Week #27 Photo Challenge

Trees In The Park

I've been thinking lately about why I like to use my camera to "see" the world. I am definitely about the process of photography. Through my practice of Nalanda Miksang and contemplative photography I am learning how to carefully observe the world around me and in turn, learning at a much deeper level about this wonderful world. Observing, looking, seeing, feeling, appreciating the experience of the phenomenal world.

Week #26 Photo Challenge

Yellow Paper

"Color as color cuts through interpretations and self-absorption, straight to things as they are. It has an edge. 

John McQuade

I continue to work through the Looking and Seeing book by John McQuade and Miriam Hall. I went out this week with my intention  set on color. Some of my images were good but they included other aspects such as pattern or light. This "flash of perception" came out as pure color with space and depth. It is easy to understand why contemplative photography is a practice for a lifetime.

Week #25 Photo Challenge

Looking Down

Another week of practicing Nalanda Miksang contemplative photography and reading "Looking and Seeing" by John McQuade and Miriam Hall. I'm feeling very inspired by their writing and exercises.

"Practicing contemplative photography is a kind of sail, stirring us back to the ordinary magic of clear seeing. Making an image is using that sail to catch the joy of the world"

John McQuade and Miriam Hall

Week #24 Photo Challenge

Impressions 

"This is what it is like to be in the Now, which is really just to be still in the mind and body. My photographs come from a place of emotion. They are not an attempt to capture the perfect image, but to capture the feeling I experience as I witness the things in front of me."

Eydis S Luna Einarsdottir

Week #23 Photo Challenge

Reflections at the Marina

“Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera.” 

Ansel Adams

Week #22 Photo Challenge

Shadows and Lines

"Ordinary things when really seen, make extraordinary photos. Such photos seem to make themselves. They seem like presents that are given."

           David Vestal

Week #21 Photo Challenge

Sheets

Nalanda Miksang is based on the teachings of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his work with the contemplative arts. As I begin my journey with this practice, I have found these words to help me frame the path for my journey.

"Either you look and see beyond language - as a first perception - or you see the world through the filter of your thoughts, by talking to yourself. Everyone knows what it is like to feel things directly. Intense emotions...don't have a language. They are too intense in the first flash...Synchronizing mind and body is looking and seeing directly beyond language...you can see on the spot with wakefulness. Your eyes begin to open wider and wider, and you see that the world is colorful and fresh and so precise, every sharp angle is fantastic."

Chogyam Trungpa Ripoche - Shanbhala Sacred Path of the Warrior

Week #20 Photo Challenge

City Window - San Francisco

Started a new book this week, Looking and Seeing, Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography by John McQuade and Miriam Hall.  Looking forward to learning more about Nalanda Miksang, a contemplative photography training out of Canada, and starting some of the exercises they have developed. I'll share some of my thoughts about the book over the next several weeks.

Week #19 Photo Challenge

Light on Leaves

"If you have something to say about life, you must also find a way of saying it clearly. And if you achieve that clarity of both perception and the ability to record it, you will have created your own composition, your own kind of design, personal to you, related to other people's, yet your own. The point I want to make is that there is no such thing as THE way, there is only for each individual, his or her way, which in the last analysis, each one must find for himself and in photography and in living."

Paul Strand 

Week #18 Photo Challenge

Reflections 

"I believe to be good at anything, even those things we love most, requires discipline. Because growth happens when we hit our limits (and our limits are either at the edge of our comfort zone or the furthest extent of our current ability), it is discipline that gets us past the natural boundary."

David Duchemin - Photograph - issue 12

Lately, I have been at a place with my photography where I was feeling stuck. I knew that I needed to keep going out every day with my camera and keep at it - but I just wasn't connecting with my images.   This week, while I was down in Palm Springs, something shifted. I was able to use my camera in a way that contributed to my ability to capture what I saw - I stopped fighting my camera and started to be one with my camera. This experience seems to reflect what David Duchemin is saying above. Growth happens when we hit our limits. 

Lessons learned? Just keep at it - even when you feel like you have hit the "creative wall".

Week #17 Photo Challenge

Back Gate

"The bells and stones have voices but, unless they are struck, they will not sound"

Chuang Tzu

I would like to share a wonderful book that I've been reading. It's title is The Tao of Photography - Seeing Beyond Seeing by 

Philippe L. Gross and S.I. Shapiro. The book draws on Taoist philosophy and wisdom to illustrate how the art of living and photographic artistry is organically linked.

The book is broken up into five parts.

Part One provides a description go Taoistic photography.

Part Two focuses on the constructive nature of reality.

Part Three discusses barriers that can constrict awareness and ways of freeing awareness.

Part Four examines the role of method and education in artistry.

Part Five moves beyond the practice of photography and looks at using conscious camerawork as a way of enriching our everyday life.

I've read through the book twice and each time I gleam more insights and words of wisdom.

Week #16 Photo Challenge

"Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life."

Rachel Carson

Happy Earth Day 2015

Week #15 Photo Challenge

Bark

Yesterday, I took a walk down by the river at the Brandywine River Museum, to take in the first spring like day. I closed my eyes, took a breath and asked for nature to speak. This image was her answer.

Week #14 Photo Challenge

Garden Art

I just came back from a Garden Photography class at the Ruth Bancroft Garden. The teachers for the class were John Ricca and Richard Valenti . Both of the instructors were patient and encouraging as we spent the morning exploring this wonderful garden. We were encouraged to try new skills and both John and Richard were always available to walk us through a new approach or give us feedback on our photos.  

One of the reasons I took this particular class was that I wanted to try making abstracts using these succulents. I had noticed on John's site that he also looks at nature in abstract ways and I was excited to learn more of how he set up the technical part of his shots. I was not disappointed and feel like I finished the class with some new knowledge and techniques. Besides all that, it was fun to meet some new people and share a morning together.

Week #13 Photo Challenge

Even the smallest thing......

Even the simplest thing is as important as the things we consider important. I consider the fallen leaf as important as the Gand Canyon. It's all connected. One couldn't be without the other.
Ruth Bernhard

Week #12 Photo Challenge

In A Gust of Wind

In a gust of wind

The leaves scatter

Leaving only impressions 

I've been working on writing Haikus for some of my photos. I've been reading "The Heart of Haiku" by Jane Hirshfield and was inspired to take a try using this photo from my last trip to Maui.

Week #11 Photo Challenge

Capturing the Emotions of Spring

"A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art."

Paul Cezanne

Emotion and art seem to go hand in hand. I am not always aware of the emotions that I am feeling when I click the shutter. Later on when I have spent some time with the image, the emotions seem to reach out to me, and urge me to explore my heart. 

Week #10 Photo Challenge

Living Room Blinds

I just finished a wonderful six week online class in Mindful Photography. The class was taught by Lee Ashland. Lee was supportive and challenging with the assignments and the depth of the course materials was fantastic. I not only learned from my time out with my camera practicing the weekly assignments, I also had the opportunity to read about many photographers that helped me take my learning to a deeper level. 

You can read more about Lee at his site The Mindful Photographer. While you are there I encourage you to sign up for the class he is starting in April. If you have never tried an online photography course I highly recommend them. I find it a great way to keep my photography practice focused  at the same time having the opportunity to "meet" some other like mind people.

Week #9 Photo Challenge

Driving home this weekend I saw this beautiful sky and had to stop and capture the moment. It made me think of the the concepts of "taking" photos and "receiving" photos. I choose to receive these images that touch my heart. The experience fills me with grace and helps me to experience the sacred.