Ordinary Magic

To me beauty appears when one feels deeply.
Dorothea Lange 

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 #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 #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 #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 #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 #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 #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 #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 #15

Curtis's Hands

"Art has a way of confronting us, of reminding us, of engaging us, in what it means to be human, and what it means to be human is to be flawed, is to be contradictory, is to be often weak, and yet despite all of these what we would consider drawbacks, that we're also quite beautiful."
Juno Diaz

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