Raindrops keep falling on my head

I must say it was quite rainy today. It rained this morning, this afternoon and in the evening. Not all day though, we had long showers of rain and in between the sky cleared up a bit. Some people might think that boring, but to real Miksangers (Miksang contemplative photographers) there is a whole world of rain and water to explore.

This afternoon I saw my Miksang friend Natasscha, last weekend we had agreed  to see each other today in Amsterdam without caring about what the weather was going to be. Rain come or shine, we were going to meet up.

After a cup of tea and a chat we ventured outside and I was hardly out of the door or I sighed 'ooh' and 'ahh' because of the lovely perceptions. Photographing in the rain is not something I do often, but boy, that is a lot of fun!

Natasscha and I discussed the waterness of water: when is a picture about the actual waterness and when is it about something else? Our teacher Hèlen says what comes in first when you see a photo is what gives the strongest impression. For example: in the picture above on the right, the first thing I see is the yellow reflection. So that picture is about a yellow reflection and not so much about water itself. Reflecting is of course one of the qualities of water and in some circumstances it can do that very well.

Water also has no form of its own, it is liquid and flows from a higher plane to a lower. We were looking at water and raindrops for minutes on end, just fascinated how the drops fell down and formed circles in the pond. I could do this more often, walking in the rain with my camera. The world is just a different place. How about you? What do you see when you are walking in the rain?

Amazing skies

amazing sky with wind mills on horizon

Last Sunday I went for a walk on the beach with my ex boyfriend. Maybe not one of my great ideas emotionally wise, but visually wise it was a fantastic idea. I mean, these skies were just awesome!

amazing sky

Lots of turmoil in the sky, lots of turmoil within myself. Trying to befriend my ex after a painful break-up is not an easy thing to do even after almost a year. Looking into this unlimited space though gave me space within, it gave room for feeling these emotions, venting them and feeling lighter afterwards. I am sure you have experienced this too at one occasion or another.

cloudy sky and kite flyer

And then there were these guys flying in the sky, riding on the wind that rolled over the dunes. They represented the ultimate experience of freedom.

sea gulls and an amazing sky

sand dunes, amazing sky and two kite flyers

Who knows, I might try it out one day.

Workshop Kado/The Path of Flowers

As I wrote in my last blogpost I joined a Kado workshop last weekend: Kado is originally a Chinese word meaning The Path or The Way of Flowers. During the workshop our teacher Marcia Shibata introduced us to this ancient art.

Kado: Basic upright Left arrangement

The guidebook that was available contains a couple of guidelines. The flower-arrangements are built up according to clear standard guidelines. The first two days we worked with 'Basic Upright Left', shown above (sorry for the crappy photograph). The title means that it is a basic form, the orientation is located to the left of the sun and Heaven is positioned upright (towards the sun). At Kado you always start with the Heaven principle as Heaven is guiding. The Heaven-Earth-Man principle is a natural hierarchy. "It is about the ability to respond so that everything benefits. Heaven moves towards the light", explains Marcia Shibata.

my first Kado arrangement with white gladioli

The Earth principle is something with a bit of body like the full white flowers of the gladioli in the photograph above. Its proportion is half of Heaven, the Man principle is about 2/3 of Heaven. Shown below is the placement of Heaven, Earth and Man in the kenzan.

placement of Heaven, Earth and Man in a kenzan

Marcia Shibata showing the second arrangement

The 'helpers' are in the middle of the triangle Heaven-Earth-Man. Helpers have the purpose of bringing together Heaven-Earth-Man as well as to invite the space around them; helpers are used to what is necessary and last but no least there should be no competition between the helpers and Heaven-Earth-Man nor amongst themselves.

my second Kado arrangement, with purple irises

practice room for Kado

Our third flower-arrangement was a Basic Upright Right and for this piece 'wood' was introduced to us. All hard materials are considered wood, wood lives longer and is stronger, tougher. Grass is considered soft. Bamboo is half grass half wood.

Kado participants at work

I quite enjoyed these days, they were relaxing and fun. Every day we started with a half hour meditation Shambhala style. It makes the mind calm and focused, which is just what we need for Kado. The cloth or coaster underneath the container is called a dai, it is a reminder that in case our mind goes wondering we can go back any minute to where we were and to what we were doing. Marcia compared the Kado-practice to our every day of life, she called our flower-arrangement our 'world'. And yes, I can see the comparison: it's all about relationship, space, communication and the environment not only in our little flower-piece but also in our daily life.

Demonstration of Kado/The Path of Flowers

Kado demonstation

Last weekend I participated in a four-day workshop of Kado. Kado comes from China and means 'The Path/Way of Flowers'. Ikebana is her sister and comes from Japan and means 'Natural Flowers'.

The workshop was taught by teacher Marcia Shibata, who lived in Japan to learn the art of Ikebana. According to her the Ikebana-ways have lost meditation as the core of the practice. Shambhala brings that back.

On Wednesday night Marcia gave a Kado demonstration: above on the right shows the first flower-arrangement she made. On the left is a still life that I saw during preparations. I volunteered to help preparing the rooms of the Amsterdam Shambhala Centre for the workshop which meant a lot a rearranging furniture and laying out the necessary supplies. In between assignments I had a few moments to look around me and to enjoy what was there.

"Make friendship with space, inner space," Marcia said. "Inner space cultivates outer space. Inner space has to do with our mind, our thoughts. Very often we are not here, in the moment. We miss a lot of the opportunities that are nourishing to ourselves and to others. Meditation is a way to cultivate our inner space which is the doorway to healthy life. Our obstacles will not go away, but we have more room to handle panic and anxiety."

second Kado flower-arrangement

The purple arrangement was the second flower-arrangement Marcia made during the demonstration. It was fascinating to see how she was working: she was examining the flowers, leaves and branches, looking which way they were growing and delicately arranged them on a kenzan (see below) one by one. Each flower or leaf was making a relationship with their neighbors.

cabinet with kenzans

We laid a lot of kenzans on the top of a cabinet. A kenzan is a piece of iron with lots of iron sticks on top to pin the flowers on. They come in varies sizes and shapes depending on the size of your container and the weight and length of your flowers and branches you pick one.

double Kado flower-arrangement

At the end of the demonstration Marcia made a Kado flower-arrangement consisting of two pieces. In the picture below the same piece is shown with a white background to let it stand out more than in the frame above.

double Kado flower-arrangement with white background

In the next day or so I will post more on the actual workshop itself. Lets suffice to say that those days were the most relaxing and enjoyable days since a couple of weeks. I find that Contemplative art is very appealing to me.

Building a portfolio

As you may or may not know I was commissioned by VU Academy of Social Sciences for photographing scenes to be used on their website and in brochures (read more about the commission over here)

Today I am happy to share with you a couple of brochures that were designed recently using a couple of photographs I specifically shot for this assignment. Well, except for the one right above, the tyre tracks in sand; this image was needed so quickly I had to pull it out of my archives.

I can't tell you how proud I feel today looking at these brochure covers. They are the result of a stressful period as the coming together of this project has not been easy in a couple of ways.

Shooting colour

I shot colour today, I forgot how happy that made me. Colour is one of the first assignments in Miksang Contemplative photography, it's pure and simple. I got this idea of shooting colour again by looking at one of the other practitioners photos on her Flickr stream. I was like "wow, yeah, I forgot about that, let's pick it up again." Below are a few examples of what I saw during a short walk into town.

At home with Laura

This will be a new feature on the blog: At home with... Ever since I was a teenager I have loved to play around with the interior of my living quarters, when I was sixteen I used to change my room every other week or so. Nowadays I don't do that anymore, but when I am visiting someone, whether it be at their home or office I always take a good look around and soak up the interior. 

For me it is important what kind of room I am in, what the atmosphere is like. The space doesn't have to be pretty or artistic, but it should feel open, spacious, warm and there should be windows leaving light in.

plants in Laura's room

I've had this idea to photograph other people's spaces for a long time now, this week I finally pulled myself together and asked two of my housemates whether it was ok for them if I photographed their private spaces. They agreed and yesterday I captured these interiors. I only used natural light, no extra lamps nor tripod. I also didn't alter anything in the room, I shot it as it was not changing the slightest bit, but simply looking at the charm that was there.

The first room I photographed was of my housemate Laura, she lives on the same floor as I do and we share a large kitchen and living room. Together with three other people we form one of the five groups that live in this building which was once a hospital. I wrote about that over here.

collection of artifacts

Laura is a young woman in her thirties and she would love to emigrate to Brazil. She likes working in the garden (last year she started renting one herself) and being outside. Those passions are reflected in her room: there are lots of artifacts and little collections created or inspired by nature.

cabinet and vase with dried flowers

ornament and vases

Her love for nature can be clearly be seen in this room whether it be in a patterned vase or little items. This is a room I feel comfortable in and I loved photographing it. It was a good exercise for me as I intend to do more of these shoots. Would anybody like their house being photographed? Please let me know.