Amaryllis with shadows

Last weekend we not only learned to take our time looking and taking pictures during the workshop Essential Instructions for looking and seeing, we were also inspired and stimulated to have our camera at hand at any time. At the end of the second day, on Saturday, the wall of the workshop room gave us such a wonderful display of light and shadow, that we kept on looking and photographing as it changed quickly with the fading light. It was like we were looking at a slow motion picture.

Coming closer

The exhibition date is coming closer: on next Wednesday 4th of December, I will install my pictures at the Slotervaart nursing home. Below is what the area in the nursing home looks like: it is a wide corridor for patients, personnel and guests.

In the past weeks I have selected 16 pictures from 2012 and 2013. I first started with going through my iPhoto album selections by month. I labeled the pictures that resonated with me the most. I came to a shortlist of about 75 pictures and asked two friends to have a look at them and highlight which pictures they liked best. I then came to a final selection of 16 pictures (one spare) and ordered the prints glued on MDF, size 30 x 45 cm. I picked them up last Monday and they are quite fabulous. Below is one of the pictures that will be exhibited.

This weekend I will do the finishing touch of the whole thing: putting small stickers on the back of the prints with my name, phone number and signature; making cards next to the pictures with information of each photo; and a sheet with information on contemplative photography and ordering information. And I still have to determine the price per picture, I find that the hardest bit. How do I put a price on my art?
After Wednesday I will show you the overview of the exhibition.
I am so excited!

Leafness

I've been really busy with getting my exhibition together and with the workshop last weekend. Also, it's quite hectic at work, so much that I haven't been out a lot lately. These pictures are from earlier this month, but I still felt like sharing them with you. I hope you appreciate them.

Books to read on Miksang contemplative photography

While in the workshop, Hèlen showed us some good books on contemplative photography to read. Here they are:

Dharma art: The creative dimension of spirituality

This is Hèlen's bible: many of the Miksang principles are written down by Chögyam Trunga. He started the first Miksang group in the United States. I started reading the book myself in France this summer, but found it difficult to get through.

Three books by Freeman Patterson. I haven't read any of them yet, but certainly will. The photos inside are simply amazing. Apparently Michael Wood, see below, was an adept of his.

Then there is the book of Michael Wood. Written in very understandable language what contemplative photography is all about. You can read more in my earlier blogpost.

And finally the book by Julie DuBose. You can read more about her and her book in my earlier posts over here and here.
I had the pleasure of following two workshops with both Michael Wood and Julie DuBose two years ago. They are both very inspiring people and their books are likewise.

Essential Instructions, day III

On the third day of the workshop we mostly repeated what we did on the first two days and we slowed down our pace even more. I learned that looking and looking again is essential indeed and it shows in the pictures. There is more contact, more connection, more heart in them.

Dharma means truth and Miksang is about visual truth. We don't show the world our version of the truth we show our perception, nothing more and nothing less.

The first two days we especially dealt with calming our minds and we  explored the area before we pick up the camera. Every so often when we see something we would like to pick up our camera immediately and pull the trigger, so to speak.

During the past few days we hit the brakes and we took more time to look at what it was that we saw. This stabilizes our perception and gives a deeper connection.

Everything on the path of contemplative photography is about getting in the moment, because there is no other moment than the present. The pictures are the by-product of this practice (and what a joy they are!).

The emphasis of the third day is forming the equivalent: how to use our camera to express what we saw. We learned a few technical aspects of our camera. The equivalent should match your perception as close as possible. In Miksang we don't use special lenses or tricks to enhance the picture. What we see is what you get.

I can look back on a tremendous informative and joyous workshop. Miksang is not about cognitive information, it's more a discipline of spontaneity.  It is a path on which we learn a lot about ourselves and how our mind works. I keep on looking and seeing, it makes me calm and happy.

Essential Instructions, day II

Saturday was day two of the workshop Essential Instructions for looking and seeing. In my former blogpost I explained about the flash of perception, yesterday was all about the visual discernment. 

This is apparently the most difficult aspect of Miksang contemplative photography: understanding what you see from a still, open and grounded mind, looking with appreciation and then expressing your perception with the elegance of a fencer.

What really helps to become quiet is mediation. Meditation brings you to your own self and creativity. That is what we are doing in the workshops: we train our minds to become quiet and to express our fresh perception correctly. 

In determining the visual discernment we encounter our obstacles, like boredom, photographic ambition or even excitement. Whatever the obstacles are, we can always turn back to looking.

We stayed longer with the looking yesterday and I took a whole lot less pictures than I normally do. I really made connection with what I saw, determining what it is that I saw, appreciating and giving expressing. 

Before clicking the shutter we determine the following:

• where does my perception start and where does it end?
• what belongs to it and what does not?
• is the format landscape or portrait? 

Then you determine the technical aspects: the depth of field, ISO, etc. and click the button. The last part is the easiest part, you just have to know your camera. But knowing yourself and trusting what you saw, is a different piece of cake!

Essential instructions, day I

Yesterday was the first day of a Miksang contemplative workshop by Hèlen A Vink in Zandvoort and it was all about the flash of perception. The full name of the workshop is: Essential instructions for looking and seeing. The first day was about understanding what stopped you and what the qualities of perception were.

The flashes appear in the gaps of our busy mind: in between moments that we are not thinking and when we are are available to the world around us. 

When our mind is quiet, a flash can appear out of nowhere, all of a sudden. It is shocking and disorienting. We are jolted from sleep into awake and we are uncertain as to what is happening, but we whatever we saw it is present and powerful.

We practiced to learn to trust our flash of perception yesterday by recognizing the following steps:

• there is a flash of perception
• you recognize the flash
• you acknowlegde that it is a flash
• you trust your flash
• you stabilize your experience
• you link yourself to your flash
• you express your flash by clicking the shutter button

The two biggest obstacles are: not trusting your flash and having a photographic ambition (wanting to make a pretty picture).

Looking is the proficient means and seeing is the aspect of wisdom. We look first and then we start to see.

After a couple of visual exercises our assignment was to see like a child and to take pictures like them. It was all about the flash: we had a flash, we acknowledged it, clicked, looked at it again and then walked away without looking on the camera how it turned out.

 It felt light and joyful. The pictures you see are the result of a wonderful day.