Posts Tagged Contemplative
Evolution of my photography-Conclusion
Posted by Damian in Contemplative on May 6th, 2009
Part Four - Where I am cont.
This is the last post for this blog. The images to follow were all taken on Sable Island, NS after I had received training in Miksang. Hopefully, you will notice a difference in my style compared with the images in the previous blog.
This simple image portrays a strong sense of ‘horse’; curvature of the back, texture of the mane and the strong connection with the eye.
Simple yet strong images exist and with a little looking they can be seen every day, every where. This sand pattern on Sable stopped me as I drove along the beach on my ATV.
One of my favourite images for lots of reasons, mostly for its simplicity and the strong sense of time; there is a water droplet delicately hanging from the wire.
Through spending time observing rather than shooting with the camera different viewpoints of the same image appear. These sanderlings remind me of people wandering through a shopping centre.
This is another good example of what one sees when one spends time observing. I really like this.
Chogyam Trungpa in Dharma Art describes the experience of being relaxed and open when observing.
There is a standing-still quality, a stalement in which comments and remarks become unimportant, and seeing things as they are becomes the real thing. Its like a frog sitting in the middle of a big puddle, with rain constantly falling on it. The frog simply winks its eyes at each raindrop that falls on it, but doesn’t change it’s posture. It doesn’t try to either jump into the puddle or get out of the puddle.
This is how I felt when I took this photograph of the tree trunk. It was late in the day during a stormy, windy, wet and cold day. I was cold and tired and heading home but when I turned a corner I saw this image. It stopped me completely and I knew, despite the weather, I had to capture this. The image held me still and it seemed as though the stormy weather had dissapated. I really felt like the frog in the puddle.
Once one has performed the process of observing, discerning and finally capturing the image several times the processoccurs very quickly so that brief moments such as this one are seen and captured.
This is another good example of looking. I was on top of a dune watching an incredible sunset when I turned around to look east and saw this image. So simple and yet so much there, for me anyway. The delicate pink sky and face of the dune beat anything I saw in that sunset.
A sand bucket discarded on the beach. But woth wondeful patterns of sand.
A wonderful perception for me. Perceptions are of course truly personal.
This is a good example of how labels can affect your perceptions. These gulls are greater black back gulls. They are a nasty bird, attacking chicks in nests, pecking at the eyes of seal pups and quite common on Sable Is. This label would distract one from seeing their true beauty. Without the label a wondeful perception as this one can arise.
A simple broken shell on a beach.
To conclude, this quote from Henri Cartier-Bresson sums up my thoughts on photography.
My passion has never been for photography in itself, but for the possibility-through forgetting yourself-of recording in a fraction of a second the emotion of the subject, and the beauty of the form; that is, a geometry awakened by what’s offered.
Evolution of my photography – Part Four
Posted by Damian in Contemplative, Nature on April 26th, 2009
Part Four – Where I am
The images that follow were all taken on Sable Island, Nova Scotia. This is a 52km long wind-swept sand bar in the Atlantic Ocean, about 300km east-south-east of Halifax. The island is fascinating in that it has a long history including numerous ship wrecks and is home to a wild population of horses as well as other wildflife. I work on the island as a seal biologist and have been visiting annually since 1997.
The images here were all taken before I discovered Miksang, so prior to April 2006. Next week (4th May) I will post images from Sable Island after I took training in Miksang and hopefully you will notice a difference in my style.
Sable Island horses
Trunk in sand
After strong wind, various stuff is exposed from beneath the sand. This photograph is very simple and yet very appealing to my eye.
Old man and the sea
When I came across this male grey seal, there was a strong connection happening between it and the sea; a connection of home.
Sand, sea, sky
A sunset on South Beach. The colour of the sea, reflections on the wet sand and the break in the clouds inspired this photograph.
Sable Island mare
This mare stood still for several minutes while I photographer her.
Sanderlings and surf
This was taken at the end of a strong storm when the surf on South Beach was very impressive. The curvature of the sanderlings flying reminds me of a wave crashing on the beach.
Horses and seals, North Beach
This photograph sums up Sable Island. Seals on the beach, wild horses, dunes in the background and big surf. I was sitting on the beach photographing a pair of male grey seals fighting in the surf when this group of horses strolled down the beach toward me.
Sunset on South Beach
I have seen many sunrises and sunsets on Sable so one has to be very striking for me to photograph it. This one was because the colours in the wet sand were hues of brown rather than typical sunset colours of blue and reds.
Next week will be the end of this series when I will continue posting images but from the period after my Miksang training.
Evolution of my photography- Part Three
Posted by Damian in Contemplative, General on April 21st, 2009
Part three - what I found
After spending time in England shooting brick walls and plant pots I returned to Halifax. While in England I had decided to pursue my photography more seriously and to understand why my style had changed. While looking through The Coast I came across an advertisement for a course on contemplative photography named Miksang. After reading ahout this approach to photography I was totally taken by it and decided to take the course which fortunately was based in Halifax. I have now completed two levels of Miksang and fully intend to pursue it further. I would like to take you through the idea behind Miksang so you can better understand and appreciate the changes that have occurred in my photography since Miksang has become a strong foundation of my photography.
Michael Wood 2006, Halifax
Imagine you are playing a game of basketball. You are totally engrossed in the game, following your players and the ball. Suddenly the ball hits you in the face. At that precise moment in time everything seems to stand still and you are captured in a, albeit, brief moment of time. This is akin to the experience of a perception in Miksang. As one walks down an ordinary street something jumps out at you and stops you. This red sweet was one such perception. Brilliant red on grey stone I immediately stopped and looked.
These colourful cones against the drab grey pavement is another example. In these two examples it was the colour that stopped me and held me in place.
In this example, it was less colour and more textural; the warmth feel of the blankets. These blankets and matresses were on the side of a street and as I walked past I saw them and stopped.
So the perception, or the moment when one sees something that stops you is a very strong experience with elements of strong colour, rich texture; its an intense moment, the preception is sharp, brilliant, clear and most importantly free from distraction.
One is able to experience these perceptions through the practice of Miksang. During the instruction, one is taught to control the mind to free your ‘vision’ of distracting thoughts, judgements, labels, associations, memories, etc so that when one sees something one experiences the raw elements of the perception. For example, often when we see something we immediately label it, e.g. that is a bus, this is a car, that is a dog etc. We add judgements, e.g. I like that, I don’t like that. We associate what we see with other things and we recall moments when we saw something similar. Essentially, in no time at all we have a dialogue occurring in our mind based on what we saw and this pulls our attention and focus away from the image that stopped us. In Miskang, one is taught to stop this dialogue from occurring so that one develops and maintains a direct connection with the image; we are held there in this perception experiencing its raw elements. It is an unconditional perception.
Stage Two: Visual discernment
So this process is very meditative. One is held in the moment connecting with the richness and beauty of the image. At some point one moves toward an analysis of the image, while remaining in the perception. One asks “which elements in this image stopped me. Which elements are clutter”. One removes any element in the image that was not involved in the perception. Through this process the image becomes very pure so that all of its elements played some role in the perception. Essentially, we are composing.
The process of visual discernment occurs without the distracting thoughts previously mentioned. The experience remains relaxed and meditative as though one is falling into the image. It becomes quite clear which elements are important and which ones are not.
Stage Three: Forming the equivalent
During this last stage, the camera arrives. Everything before this was done entirely through looking and connecting. But at some point one woudl like to capture the moment on ‘film’ and this is referred to as ‘forming the equivalent’. Here, your skill in using your equipment comes into play; which exposure should I use, how fast should I shoot, is this a vertical or horizontal shot. Once such matters have been worked out, one raises the camera to the eye and shoots.
Helen, Halifax 2006
Although the process may appear lengthy, it all occurs quite quickly such that moments of richness and beauty that occur during the thinnest slices of time are captured.
As mentioned previously Miksang is based on the art teachings of the late Chogyam Trungpa and he provides a wonderful quote of this process:
What a work of art is all about is a sense of delight. Touch here, touch there, delight. It is an appreciation of things as they are and of what one is — which produces an enormous spark. Something happens — clicks — and the poet writes poems, the painter paints pictures, the musician composes music.
Next week: Part Four - where I am
As I engaged in the art of Miksang, my photography began to change. Next week I will show my work from Sable Island and how the practice of Miksang has changed it. This is where I am.
Evolution of my photography – Part Two
Posted by Damian in Contemplative, General on April 13th, 2009
Part Two – Where I went
From the early 1990s to the 2005 I enjoyed photography but often became frustrated because the images I saw often were not on the prints I developed. During the early 2000’s I was not that productive in photography. In 2005, my father died rather suddenly from pancreatic cancer. I found this event very dramatic and it shook my life as though it was a milk shake.
After my Dad’s death I returned to Halifax, Canada. However, after several months of struggle I returned to England and stayed with my mother. During this period I was unable to do any work and found that the only thing I could do was my photography. At this point I had moved over to digital and had a simple point and shoot camera.
Strangely my photography changed dramatically. Rather than shoot nature and landscapes I found myself attracted to very simple images such as this brick wall with its bright and dull bricks.
Some images were not particularly attractive but were still attractive to me, such as the rust coloured concrete above.
Often the images were simple and something that one sees in every day life, such as these pebbles on Brighton beach.
The images often had a strong sense of form.
and strong colour.
Another example of strong colour and form
Simple, every day objects
While in Egland I mostly stayed with my mother. At her home, she had a forecourt full of pots and plants. I remember spending many hours in this small area shooting pictures of the different coloured and shaped pots and their plants.
Again these images were not terribly attractive or interesting to anyone else, but to me they were quite powerful.
Another example of a strong splash of colour
Next week, 27th April – Part Three – What I found
Passionate about Food
These images were taken while shooting a series of images for my brother’s Hotel business in England. We visited five places; a fish market on the Grimsby docks, a small cheese farm, a coffee roasting house, a butchers and a free-range turkey farm. By brother wanted images of him interacting with the retailers and their product.
Typically a photographer would arrive with a camera (or two), a couple of lenses, flash and maybe a tripod. To me, this is an expression of control: requiring certain images and using the mind and equipment to ensure that those images are captured. Thus, the photographer arrives with ideas in the head of what he/she wants.
I arrived on the fish docks at 630am in the morning with a camera and a 50mm lens. I was excited about shooting for the day. All I had to do was sit back and observe and I was confident that the required images would appear. And they did. The reason being that my mind was free of expectation, rules of shooting, anticipation; I just needed to observe and wait for moments to arrive. As long as I was open those moments of perception would appear.
Here are a few of those images.
Cow and milking shed
This image just appeared in front of me. When one first starts taking photographs of images that occur in a moment, in a flash of perception, one needs to study the image to really understand what components of it
really saw. Only after you have connected and studied the perception can you raise the camera and shoot. After a while this process occurs quickly so that images like this that are there for a split second can be captured.
Coffee
I was inside a very old coffee roasting house and saw this image. The old window and the old coffee sign seen through it captured the moment.
Passionate about cheese
One hand on the cheese, the other expressing its love for it.
Hand on fish
I can’t say much about this shot. I just love it.
Podcast with Contemplative Photographer Michael Wood
Posted by Damian in Contemplative on March 11th, 2009
I have taken two courses with Michael Wood to learn the art of contemplative photography. Michael Wood recently did an interview about Miksang with Paul Giguere from ‘Thoughts on Photography’, a web site that contains lots of great interviews and articles that revolve around the notion of ‘Living a Photographic Life’
The interview is available as a download or streaming audio file at:
http://www.thoughtsonphotography.com/
Click on the ‘POD’ Icon, or on ‘direct download’
Damian
Podcast with Contemplative Photographer Michael Wood
