Savoring Moments in Life

Watch this video of photographer Chris Orwig talking for 19 minutes about how we can use the camera to create order moment by moment.

Here are just a few of his thoughts I quickly jotted down:

How we feel affects what we see.
The camera is a passport to explore.
The camera is a friend who drags us on a journey.
Beauty is about the passage of time.
Silence is a prerequisite for the profound.

Time and a Sense of Wonder

No Platitude ... Just Gratitude

Take ten minutes to enjoy this video meditation on thanksgiving.

Awakeness to Things

Read this blog journal entry by Sean Kernan, who writes about creativity in photography.

Honoring Those Who Bear Witness

A photojournalist I talked to a few months ago said she regards herself as a witness rather than as an artist.  Photojournalists are, by the nature of their calling, risk takers.  There will always be those who prefer to conceal the truth by intimidation and violence.  Photographers are frequently the targets. As witness bearers, photojournalists pull back the covers and illuminate the darkness.  And their images become part of the narrative that brings truth to deception.

The PhotoShelter Blog recently posted an article titled, 14 Most Dangerous Locations for Photojournalists. Clicking on this link will honor those who risk safety to bear witness.

Jay Maisel Bears Witness

To record the impact of an event, turn the camera to the faces that are reacting to it. This is what photographer Jay Maisel did two weeks after the towers fell.

He went to Ground Zero to bear witness.

Click here for some of Jay Maisel's words and images.

Bearing Witness and the Power of Images

Photographs can capture history.  They can also move it.  Some even alter it. If there is any doubt about the capacity of images to bear witness, hold account, and cry for justice, watch this video of less than seven minutes in length.

The Practice of Contemplative Photography

I've posted much on this topic in my companion photo blog.  Simply click on the button above to open it.

But for those who might have happened upon this posting either by accident or deliberate search, I offer a link to the authoritative summary of what the practice of contemplative photography is all about. Andy Karr wrote it.  He co-authored the book, The Practice of Contemplative Photography: Seeing the World with Fresh Eyes.

Books for the Contemplative Photographer

Reviews of three books of particular interest to the contemplative photographer have been posted on my companion website.

I want to especially recommend the new book by Andy Karr and Michael Wood, The Practice of Contemplative Photography: Seeing the World with Fresh Eyes.

Emptiness and Openness

Jay Maisel, in a recent webinar with Scott Kelby, said he prepares for going outside to take pictures on the street by "emptying" his mind ... expecting nothing in particular and being open to everything.

Michael Freeman, in The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos, claims "a significant number of photographers have expressed an almost spiritual communion between their consciousness and the reality around them while shooting....An important concept here is a 'letting go,' an emptying of the mind that follows acquiring and honing the skills. [p. 164]"

Cartier-Bresson on Photography as an Affirmation

I came across this video originally produced in the early 1970's. 

Henri Cartier-Bresson talks about the need to forget oneself when photographing.

He says a photograph can be like a warm kiss.

He says shooting a picture is being present ... like saying, "Yes, yes, yes!"

Photography is an affirmation.

Photographer as Empathetic Witness

Why People Photograph, by Robert Adams. Aperture Foundation. 1994

To be a witness requires that we be present, and to be present requires that we be in a relationship.  The collection of essays by Robert Adams in this 186 page book testifies to the role curiosity and compassionate interest play in the enterprise of  photographic artists.

What Adams calls affection for the subject or sympathy of vision is an essential ingredient for an artistic endeavor.  Photography, by its very nature, takes a moment in time and expresses a truth.  In Adams' words, it takes the specific and makes it universal. As photographic artists, we strive for expressions that are convincing in their universality.

"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" [p. 179].  There is a sense of reverence, and a discovery of radical amazement (in the words of A.J. Heschel) as we stand before our subject. 

We stand as a witness with the privileged realization that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves, and that we are so close to it we can capture a moment of it right now.

Searching the Web for "Photography as a Spiritual Practice"

I Googled "photography as a spiritual practice" and got more than 173,000 web search results! But once beyond the fourth page of results (about 40 entries) the relevance to the topic diminshes markedly.

Here's a quick summary of my superficial and semi-random survey of the entries.  When I include specific links, they are as examples, and not endorsements, judgments of worthiness, or reflections of my own views. 

I am sure there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of photographers out there who have felt the connection of their work with things bigger than themselves.  Many must feel moved in a deep interior place of their emotions when they reflect upon this connection. I'm not offering this as a review of their images or of their postings.

Sites dealiing with this topic include:

• Photographers promoting their own images (Example1)
• Workshop offerings (Example1, Example2, Example3)
• Religious practitioners (Example1, Example2)
• Retreats (Example1, Example2)

My own position is that there is a secular practice of spirituality that is not grounded in the vocabulary of religion or worship.  All artistis who create works that move others invest an energy and connectedness in their pieces that they are able to communicate to their audience. This is what artistic expression is about.

We can investigate this energy and connectedness from a spiritual perspective, and use the concepts and methods of spiritual discernment to structure this exploration.

The Power of Words ... and Images

John Paul Caponigro just posted this link to a brief YouTube video on his blog.

The video is about written expression, but it implies a powerful statement about photographic images as well.

I'm a big fan of JPC, and check his postings daily. He is unabashedly contemplative, compassionate, and in-the-moment.  And his photographic images resonate with expressiveness of emotion.

Witnessing, and being in Relationship

I attended a presentation by Kael Alford at the Atlanta Photograph Group gallery in Atlanta last night. Kael is a freelance photojournalist, a former Nieman Fellow at Harvard, and a teacher.  When she speaks, her compassion accompanies her.  It is clear she makes deep connections with people and and places. This is what she brings to her craft.  Her images are informed by her humanity.

Follow the link to her pictures, and linger with her for a while.

Photography as a Calling?

Sometimes, when people talk about what they do, it sounds like they're talking about a "calling."  To me, that's about being a part of something that's bigger than a job.

Listen to an interview with one of my favorite spiritually connected photographers, David duChemin. It's a recent post on Fast Track Photographer.

Being in the Present

In his brief blog post of April 10, 2011, David DuChemin alludes to being in the present moment as a photographer.

Witnessing

Joel Meyerowitz talks about expansiveness, calling, and witnessings in his life as a photographic artist. Click here to see the video.