spirituality

photo friday: first light

as day breaks

all around the castle

the cries of ducks ~Kyoroku*

source

*The Moon in the Pines

trans: Jonathan Clements

rose buds

How invisibly

it changes color

in this world,

the flower

of the human heart.

~Ono no Komachi*

…our ordinary vision is limited, and…our conventional consensus of reality is not the only version of reality.

The complex multidimensionality of the modern world no doubt contributes to the constructive habit of the mind that, in its attempt to provide meaning, continually rearranges the world to fit individual needs. The failure to recognize the constructive nature of the mind can be a major obstacle to artistry and creativity. Conversely, understanding the constructive nature of the mind and reality can lead the way to Great Understanding in the art of photography and in the art of living. (61)**

sources:

*The Ink Dark Moon

Trans: Jane Hirshfield with Mariko Aratant

**Tao of Photography

Philippe L Gross & S.I. Shapiro

sweet peas

her favorite flower

a child remembers, “sweet peas”

her forgotten moment

peace lily

In making things end and in making things start,

there is nothing more glorious than keeping still. ~unknown

weekly photo challenge: the world through your eyes

With one who does not speak his every thought

I spent a pleasant evening. ~ Hyakuchi*

Things wabi-sabi have a vague, blurry, or attenuated quality—as things do as they approach nothingness (or come out of it). One-hard edges take on a soft pale glow. Once-substantial materiality appears almost sponge-like. Once-bright saturated colors fade into muddy earth tones or the smoky hues of dawn and dust. Wabi-sabi comes in an infinite spectrum of grays…**

This week’s WordPress.com Weekly Photo Challenge submission: a barn in southeastern Wyoming

sources:

*The Moon in the Pines

Trans: Jonathan Clements

**Wabi-Sabi for Artist, designers, Poets, & Philosophers

Leonard Koren

window of understanding

The remarkable thing about deja vu, or other vivid experiences of recollection,

is that they are vested with significances that we cannot put into words.

At an earlier time, whatever happened might have seemed important, or might not.

But the recollection is charged with relevance, and tears flow for no reason.

Robert Aitken, A Zen Wave

weekly photo challenge: curves

Share a picture of CURVES and explain why you chose that picture!

Gramophone

Blue Bird

‘A photograph,’ it has been said, ‘shows the art of nature rather than the art of the artist.’ This is mere nonsense, as the same remark might be applied equally well to all the fine arts. Nature does not jump into the camera, focus itself, expose itself, develop itself, and print itself. On the contrary, the artist, using photography as a medium, chooses his subject, selects his details, generalizes the whole in the way we have shown, and thus gives his view of nature. This is not copying or imitating nature, but interpreting her, and this is all any artist can do. ~Henry Emerson *

cited in:

Tao of Photography Seeing beyond Seeing

Philippe L. Gross and S. I. Shapiro