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 #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 #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 #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.

Week #14

 

Reflections on the Brandywine River

This week I made my annual trip back to Pennsylvania to spend time with my family. Both my mother, my sister and her family live in the Brandywine River Valley. This is the area that Andrew Wyeth lived and captured so beautifully in his paintings. Though not the area I grew up in, I have fallen in love with this landscape and look forward to coming back each year.

The Brandywine Art Museum is a must stop if you are in the area. They have a large collection of the Wyeth family's art work and the setting is both beautiful and peaceful. This picture was taken of my mom and brother-in-law as they took a moment to reflect out on the Brandywine River.

Week #13

Old Truck

"It is about letting our minds be quiet and spacious, moving out beyond what we think and then making work from there."

Sean Kernan

Week #12

Apple Blossom

Happy first day of Spring! In celebration of the day, I thought that I would try my hand at a Haiku to go with my picture.

White blooms on the tree

Gently falling to the ground

Spring is now released

Week #11

Glass on Table

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”

Elliot Erwitt

Week #9

Winter Evening

Silently and serenely one forgets all words.

Clearly and vividly, it appears before you.

When one realizes it, it is vast and without edges.

Hongzhi Zhengjue

 I was finding it difficult this week to schedule in the time and space I needed with my camera. I was also feeling a bit at odds with myself over what I'm looking for out of my photography. 

Yearning for some wise words, I picked up John Daido Loori's book, The Zen of Creativity, Cultivating Your Artistic Life. I have read this book before and thought that it might have a pearl of wisdom that could guide me to some insight about my slump. Right there in the introduction were the wise words and the gentle reminder I needed to hear. Loori talks about the great Zen Master D.T. Suzuki's views on the arts of Zen. Suzuki says the most interesting aspect of the arts of Zen is that they don't exist for the sole purpose of creating a work of art, but they are rather a method for opening the creative process. They comprise the means of training the mind and of living our lives. 

It is this very practice that I use my camera for - a way to bring my eyes and heart together and stand in the present moment. 

Here is a link to  John Daido Loori speaking about his photography and creative process.

With gratitude.

Week #8

Looking in the Window

"Very often I try to find something that matches a feeling I have. On the other hand, a lot of times I photograph with nothing specific in mind. I just play it as it comes. If it's good, fine. I find 'letting it happen' relaxing, a playful vacation. Stimulating pictures almost always result."

Minor White -

People often ask me how I decide what I want to photograph. I must admit that I usually don't go out with something specific in mind that I want to capture. I am more inclined just to show up and see what happens. Yesterday I was at the Vacaville Vintage Market poking around looking at the various treasures when I paused a moment and looked up to see this old house with this wonderful window. To others there this might look like an eyesore but to me it revealed a beauty and soul that only comes with age.

Week #6

Two Trees

"Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I'm going to take tomorrow."

Imogene Cunningham

There is something about the process of photography that compels me to want my camera with me at all times. I am most comfortable now when I am looking at the world through my viewfinder. Perhaps it has something to do with what Ms. Cunningham said - I am always looking forward to the next picture and the chance to see the world in a new way.

Week #4

Early Morning - Mt. Diablo

It's official - I'm a crazy person with a camera! Here in Northern California we had a glorious rainy week. Wednesday I was driving to work, sitting at a red light, waiting to enter the freeway when the quality of the light through the fog and the streaks of lights on the pavement overtook me. Before I knew what was happening I had rolled down my window and had my camera up to my eye. With only a few moments to try to capture in my camera what had captured my eyes and heart I clicked away. Soon the light changed, I laid the camera carefully down on the seat next to me and rolled the window back up. 

A few minutes later I found myself again fighting the urge to pull out my camera to capture the incredible images before me. The hills were glowing with the hint of the new day sun . I might be crazy but even I don't stop and pull over on Highway 4 to take pictures. I saw a road that meandered around the side of a hill off to my right and quickly took the next exit. Not knowing where I was heading I carefully starting climbing the hill on a road that was not much more than a paved path. I parked the car and looked down the valley. Sunrise on Mt. Diablo. So maybe I am a little crazy but it is so worth it!

Week #51 Photo Challenge

Lines and a Palm Tree - San Diego

When gifts are given to me through my camera, I accept them graciously. - Minor White, 

Week #50 Photo Challenge

Coronado Bridge

I've been down in San Diego for a conference this week. The Coronado Bridge caught my eye over and over again - loved how it looked at different times of the day, different lighting. I took this image early yesterday morning as the sun came up.

"Be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence."

Minor White

Week #49 Photo Challenge

Pittsburg Marina

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

Aaron Siskind

Week #48 Photo Challenge

Thanksgiving Day - Mt. Diablo

Leap into the boundless and make it your home!

-Chuang-Tzu

Week #47 Photo Challenge

Autumn Reflections Yosemite

" Seeing/drawing as a technique of contemplation is, I believe, a way particularly suited to that "Western temperament" which may be no more than a habitually overstimulated nervous system, an "overloaded switchboard." It is the discipline through which I extricate myself from the habitual, the mechanical, the predigested and acquisitive automatisms of our society. I stand face to face with a hill. a bird, a human face - with myself, in unwavering attention."
Frederick Franck - The Zen of Seeing

Week #41 Photo Challenge

Morning - Pittsburg Marina

"And while the paths and outcomes of creative living will vary wildly from person to person, I can guarantee you this: A creative life is an amplified life. It is a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life. Living in this manner - continually and stubbornly bring forth the jewels that are hidden within you - is a fine art, in and of itself. Because creative living is where Big Magic will always abide."

Elizabeth Gilbert - Big Magic, Creative Living Beyond Fear

Week #38 Photo Challenge

Sunrise on Water

" I subscribe to the belief that we don't find a subject for a photograph - I believe it finds us. When I wander off with my camera, I try to keep my mind blank and instead listen for that soft "Psst! Over here!" to guide me.  The best bet is to disconnect the intellect from the process and listen to your feelings...your gut. What am I going to photograph today? "I'll know if when I see it" is a great answer.

Charles Cramer - First Light - Five Photographers Explore Yosemite's Wilderness