Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Practicing Wu Wei...

   There's a new kid on the block!  This little Bob White Quail strolled into my dooryard recently. I had to be quick to gather in this image as they are very secretive and private creatures.  Their calls are distinctive and give them their name. You can listen to it here.

    Winter is a great time to practice the Photographic Sage's characteristic of Wu Wei...Effortless Effort.  I don't go looking for images, I stay put and let the images come to me.  (You can read the first post, back in February of 2012, on Wu Wei here.  There is also a PhotoTao Card on the practice.)

    Practicing Wu Wei is a a great way to ease into the contemplative practice of photography.  It is not a "doing" sort of thing.  It is simply "being".  (Not easy if you have a Type A personality!)  In actuality, Wu Wei is the ultimate visual listening exercise...a way to do without doing.  This is what I have been experiencing this winter because of the frigid temperatures, ice and snow.  It is a very restful and often surprising thing to "not do"!

   You might like to review all the Characteristics of the Photographic Sage by clicking here.


2 comments:

Mystic Meandering said...

Patricia, I love what you say about letting the image come to you - simply being - listening, even a sense of waiting. And thank you for the link to your series on the Characteristics. I will go back and review all of them!

Patricia Turner said...

Traditional photography is so much about "chasing the shot", "capturing the image"...with contemplative photography, especially from a Taoist perspective, we can simply stay open and wait. The landscape will always walk in...