Author: brenda

weekly photo challenge: the journey home

The last part of the Diary [Sarashina Diary] is concerned chiefly with accounts of pilgrimages and dreams. She married, who and when is not recorded, and bore children. Her husband dies, and with his death the spring of her life seems to have run down. Her last entry is very sad: “My people went to live elsewhere and I lived alone in my solitary home.” So we leave her “a beautiful, shy spirit whose life had known much sorrow.” ~Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan

Nikon D750   f/5.6  1/400s   125mm   4000 ISO

Image and excerpt from Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan submitted in response to Traveling at Wits End’s photo challenge: the journey home.

a photo study: developing your personal style – meditation

This week’s a photo study continues with Ted Forbes’ Master Class series, Developing your own Creative Style.  Last week’s blog reviewed and invited us to open ourselves to visualization by remaining in a selected location, without a camera.  Within the second episode, he defines meditation and then offers two exercises designed to increase our awareness of mediation within the creative process.

In the world of photography, mindfulness has been described as “meditative” or “contemplative” photography.

While out on a photo walk, my eyes scan the environment, searching for that something (shape, patterns, color, light/shadow, story) that draws my attention or for the perfect background scene.  As I move through my environment, my mind begins thinking about a photo article I read earlier or an image created by one of my favorite photographers.  I then consider the various camera settings and variations that may help me recreate an image or avoid repeating a past mistake.  For a moment or two, I ponder about what kind of image would be a great accompaniment with a particular haiku.  I begin composing and designing my next post which then invites me to slip into a fantasy about recognition and praise and then silence an inner smile as unease creeps in with, “Most likely your pictures will not be good enough” 

All of this invites me to question, “Am I really on a photo walk or am I engaged in a private screening of movies of my own making?”   This mindlessness chatter of thoughts, expectations, and desires are like dense clouds that prevent me from really being present with and seeing the world around me.  To see requires a meditative mind.

For some people meditation is shrouded in esoteric mystery.  Others understand it through images of a person sitting in the lotus position with eyes half-closed.  Others associate it with holiness and spirituality.  In its most general sense it is deciding exactly how to focus the mind for a period of time and then doing just that.

In theory, focusing the mind upon an object sounds very easy, but practice acquaints us with a mind that seems to have a will of its own as it drifts from one thought, image, conversation, or memory to other remembrances, conversations, concepts, and thoughts.  This internal stream goes on and on like a personal conversation with oneself or a perpetual story upon a movie screen…

…at the point when one realizes that the mind has traveled here and there, one is simply to note this to oneself and with acceptance gently return again to the meditative object…cited: A Meditative Journey, b c koeford

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Even though they may not specifically use the word “mindfulness,” many of the great masters talk about photography as awareness of the present moment in which we forget ourselves. We let go of the goals, desires, expectations, techniques, and anxieties that make up who we in order to more fully immerse ourselves into the experience of seeing. We open up our receptive awareness to what the world offers us…. We’re not looking for anything in particular. We’re not going anywhere in particular. We’re not expecting or trying to control anything in particular. Instead, we’re wandering, perhaps rather aimlessly, without a goal or purpose. We’re fully and naively open to the possibility of the unexpected, the unique, the moment when things come together… to the flow of life. Under these conditions, when we let go of the self, “it” appears to us. We don’t find and take the picture. The photograph finds us. It takes itself. We unite with the scene not so we can see a shot we want, but rather what the scene offers. The experience comes to us and the photograph is simply the icing on the cake. cited: http://truecenterpublishing.com/photopsy/mindfulness.htm

In photography, mindfulness is like observing something for the first time, even though you may have looked at it a thousand times before.

With an understanding of the importance of returning, again an again, our concentration to the moment, Ted Forbes invites us to

1.   Spend 30 minutes to an hour creating a still life.  

      • Use an ordinary everyday item
      • focus on that one object
      • exhaust all the possibilities
      • when you become aware that you mind has begun to wander then—with acceptance—just return to this still life project
      • ask yourself what am I not doing, what if I introduce motion? what would be different if I would do….? what would this look like  in different location—outdoors, on the floor, different table?
      • if it seems as though all possible angles, ideas, etc., have been exhausted, remain focused on the exercise for the rest of the time by jotting down thoughts and engaging in visualization. 

2.  Spend 30 minutes to an hour with a building or an outdoor space. — If you have chose a building that is in a public space and not a building that may arouse anxiety, a government building.

      • sit and explore ways to photograph.
      • just remember to keep returning to the exercise when you mind begins to wander.
      • exhaust all possibilities
      • use your journal to write down your ideas, frustrations, future projects.

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If you are interested in meditation within the street photography genre, I invite you to visit Keep the Focus website.  The Keep the Focus is a project initiated by German Street Photographer Thomas Ludwig who wants to bring the benefits of meditation techniques into street photography.  On the site he offers a free ebook. A Meditation Guide for Street Photographers

I enjoy reading your comments and viewing your creative work.  Thank you for sharing. Let’s tag with #aphotostudy.

basho

You can learn about the pine only from the pine, or about the bamboo only from bamboo.  When you see an object, you must leave your subjective pre-occupation with yourself; otherwise you impose yourself on the object, and do not learn.  The object and yourself must become one, and from that feeling of oneness issues your poetry.  However well phrased it may be, if your feeling is not natural—if the object and our self are separate—then your poetry is not true poetry but merely your subjective counterfeit. ~ Basho


a photo study: developing your personal style – visualization 

masterclass1

Nikon D750   f/8  1/400s  300mm   1250 ISO

With five weeks left of this year-long project, it is the time to explore how we as photographers

…eventually get to a point where we are comfortable with a certain look, a certain subject, or genre. Our work becomes recognizably ours. Sometimes this is done intentionally, sometimes we become well known for a subset of our work and everyone wants more of it. ~Dan K (Japan Camera Hunter)

I found that Dan K’s last two learning steps — Find Yourself and Reinvent Yourself —   dovetail nicely with the Master Class Live series that Ted Forbes created a number of years ago, Developing your Creative Style. 

The first of this Master Class series, Developing your Eye, begins with an introduction of his intention for this four week series:

To introduce exercises that will help us improve our creative work as photographers and to encourage us to allow our images to emerge through the camera from the source of our individual selves:

      • silence the negative voice that demeans our creative drive.
      • accept and embrace the uniqueness of our individual selves absent a tint of arrogance. 
      • find our own creative voice. 

To understand photography as an art form

  • Photography is: 
      • a representation of an idea that is created using light sensitive material. 
      • a visual recording of a scene that is reconstructed in the darkroom or in a software program into a a final image.
      • a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional space created through the use of contrast, lighting, and depth of field. 
      • the combination of light through a lens or pin hole with a chemical process, silver gelatin or other materials, or digital process. 
      • a continuum of creative endeavors that extend from commercial  work to fine art.  
  • Visual art is:
      • the organization of visual elements in empty space to form a composition.
      • the use of visual elements such as, shape, line, contrast, color, object(s), light, empty space.
      • created with an audience in mind.
      • includes a degree of manipulation whether it is pre or post production.
      • composition that is created to evoke a reaction from the viewer — effecting ways of thinking, bringing awareness to social, environment, political, commercial issues, engaging through emotion, or creating something that is aesthetically pleasing.  
      • on a continuum range of aesthetically to conceptual.

The materials used in the Master Class series are: a camera (exception for the  “Wish I had my camera” exercise), framing template, small notebook, pencil/pen, photo browser software like Adobe Bridge that allows you to view images that do not have post adjustment tools.  

Exercise I: I Wish I Had My Camera

 tear down walls to get from the concrete to the imagined

This exercise is designed to encourage awareness of photographic memory through the use of a journal to record spontaneous creative ideas that generally fade after a few seconds and incorporate pre-visualization as a creative tool.  It is common for creative people to experience creative moments during times of disengagement — in the shower, while falling into or awakening from sleep.  

    • Leave your camera at home and sit for 30 minutes to an hour somewhere in a chosen location.  Repeat 2-3 times in different locations.
    • At the beginning you may become bored, uncomfortable, and/or question the purpose of this exercise.  Write down your initial thoughts/feelings in your journal.  If it is boring, write down why.  Jot down the feelings or thoughts that arise.
    • When you see something that catches your eye ask yourself why and get that in your mind.  What is interesting about it?  Is there a narrative or story here?  How could you use this to create the perfect composition? 
    • Imagine different composition elements: light, perspective, low-high angle, time of day, different weather conditions, etc that would bring about a perfect image.
    • Silent any negative reactions, or practicalities that block this creative play. 
    • Journal your thoughts…short phrases, diagrams, and record them before they fade. 
    • Be the camera and open yourself to what is absent of a chattering/planning mind.  Did you notice something now that you did not initially notice?
    • If you remain in this location for at least 30 minutes, you will begin to notice things and say to yourself, “I should have noticed that.”
    • Ask yourself, “how can I make this more interesting?” Do I need to move to a different location?  Write it down…write down everything that comes to your mind. Don’t be inhibited in what you write in your journal.  Nothing is silly.  Your words do not need to be beautiful, grammatically correct…you are just jotting down your thoughts, triggers, imaginations, questions.  You are retaining the spontaneous, imagination, creative you. 
    • Use your framing templates to experiment to see if there are objects that get in the way…to frame up the image…zoom as you move the template close to your eye or further away. 

conttemplative 7

Sony RX100 III    f/2.8   1/100s  25.7mm  800 ISO

…just let your imagination flow.  If you have an image in your head it may take a number of times to create the image or it may even takes years.  

Exercise II: Finding Your Own Creative Voice 

  • Introduce yourself to the history of photography
  • Begin an exploration of photographers to find those who inspire you and influence how you see and understand photography.  
  • Study their work and try to replicate their use of shape, line, contrast, color, object(s), light, empty space, composition, attention to detail, manipulation, use of tones, etc. 
  • Recreate their work.  You may begin by coping their work, but eventually use this as a door way to your own creative space
  • If you find yourself favoring one end of the conceptual-aesthetic continuum try exploring the other end.

I would love to read about your experience with “wish I had my camera” and about the photographers who resonate with your creative soul.  Let’s tag with #aphotostudy. 

The Master Class YouTube videos and the history video are around an hour long. I have found that it is difficult to sit and view a video for this period of time, so I generally break it down to 20 minute segments. 

Below are the The Photographer posts that reviewed Dan K’s steps to becoming a better photographer. 

https://ameditativejourney.wordpress.com/2018/08/11/a-photo-study-the-photographer-iii/

https://ameditativejourney.wordpress.com/2018/08/18/a-photo-study-the-photographer-iv/

early morning readings

Nikon D750   f/4.5  1/400s 85mm  1400 ISO

“…is it the wish—the dreamlike, bombastic wish—to stand once again at that point in my life and be able to take a completely different direction than the one that has made me who I am now?

“There is something peculiar about this wish, it smacks of paradox and logical peculiarity. Because the one who wishes it—isn’t the one who, still untouched by the future, stands at the crossroads.  Instead, it is, the one marked by the future become past who wants to go back to the past, to revoke the irrevocable. And would he want to revoke it if he hadn’t suffered it. …it’s the absurd wish to go back behind myself in time and take myself—the one marked by events—along on this journey.”  ~P Mercier (Night Train to Lisbon, pp. 51-54)

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” ~ Heraclitus

When my heart came to rule
in the world of love,
it was freed
from both belief
and from disbelief.

On this journey,
I found the problem
to be myself.

When I went beyond myself,
the pathway finally opened. ~Mahsati Ganjavi