Attending to the littlest things...

   The pond was swarming with dragonflies the day I was there this summer.  I had just begun my Poetry of Place project and I wanted to focus on the dragonflies.  Which I did.  You can see the result on the right.

   One has to sit patiently and wait when one is intent on photographing dragonflies.  They come and go so quickly...luck certainly plays a big role in the outcome.

   I was pleased with this image...the detail in the wing, the way the little fellow clung to the twig just long enough for me to make his portrait.

   I even liked the somewhat monochrome coloration.  I decided to hang out a bit more to see what else might fly my way but I changed my location and the result was wonderful.

   This time I had the soft blue of the sky reflected in the pond as a background and some green leaves and pinkish dried buds.  The light was a bit bright as well and I played this all up when I got the image home and into Photoshop.  I wanted to enhance the magical quality I felt when I made the image.

   I think this experience has made me more cognizant of paying attention to what is around oneself and, also very important, what is behind the focus of my attention.  One cannot will a dragonfly to land just where one would wish but you can place yourself in the location that offers some interest and then hope for the best!

   These two photographs are a good contrast between the two ways you can approach the landscape.  The first is with the eyes of the  inquiring Naturalist and the second is with the eyes of the playful Artist.  I wrote a series of posts awhile back about the five different ways of approaching contemplative photography and you might wish to re-read it here.

   No one way is the "right" way.  What is right is what works for the intent of the image and only you know the answer to that. You might find yourself going from one way of looking at your world to another depending on the moment and your reaction to the experience. The important thing is to remain open to different ways of seeing.

Contemplative Possibilities - Minimalism

   When I was gathering images for my post on the contemplative possibilities of rust I had considered using this image.  But I saw the image as evoking another possibility for the contemplative photographer, minimalism.

   Minimalist imagery may have only 2 or 3 elements.  It is pared down in the extreme.  It is the difference between a vase over-flowing with flowers and the single bud.  There is a decided Zen-like quality to minimalist imagery that I find very tranquil and soothing.

   The rusted chain whose orange color contrasts so beautifully with the blue-grey of the stone was more about design and composition that it was about the literal elements of chain and stone.  This is the "artist in me" responding to the landscape.  (I talked about that way of relating to the world in a post on the five ways of contemplative photography which you can read here...)

   I have to admit a passion for this way of regarding the world.  Simply enjoying the inherent abstract design possibilities of a landscape element is a wonderful way to spend time with your camera.  I love to get in close and explore the minimalistic and abstract possibilities of what I come across.  You can see 4 simple techniques you can use to explore minimalism in your camera work here. 

Less is More.

   Taking away any external reference to place or time heightens the universality of abstract images.  I know this image was made on Inis Oirr in the Aran Islands of Ireland but it hardly matters.

   The image on the right was made in Kentucky but, again, it doesn't matter.  It was the contrast of the warm red brick between the white washed brick that caught my eye...simple yet open to many contemplative possibilities.

   I have referred to these sorts of images as Simplicities and you can browse my Pinterest board for other examples by following the link below.  You might like to try your hand at minimalist imagery.  It is an excellent design exercise for training your eye to see the essential elements of a subject.

Simplicities and Photographic Abstractions

  

The Five Ways of Contemplative Photography: Part Five

5.   With the Eyes of the Mystic

   When you approach contemplative photography with the eyes of a mystic you see the world as a playground of the divine.  Although I come from a Celtic Christian tradition, this way of seeing need not be associated with any particular faith practice.  Divine presence is a transcendent spirituality that comes with many names...or no name at all.

   The spiritual essence of the landscape, the world in general, is the primary focus of the photographer who sees the world with the eyes of the mystic.  It is way that I have only fairly recently been drawn to.  (You can see my post on this topic here...)

   Mysticism always, well to be frank, mystified me.  It certainly didn't feel natural.  But the more I've read about it, especially in the work of the great spiritual mystics like Rumi and Hildegard of Bingen, I've begun to feel more comfortable with this way of practicing my craft.

   This is the last of the five ways of contemplative photography.  I've ordered them in the way I personally discovered them.  From the cool observations of the Inquirer, I became more and more passionately involved with it all.  It truly was a journey from the head to the heart.

   In reality, these five ways are not singular approaches.  They combine in various ways and sometimes I find that I progress through all five ways during the course of my experience in the landscape.  No matter which way you identify with, keep your mind and your heart open to alternative ways...you might discover a way I haven't even considered!  The important thing is that  your way of contemplative photography fits you.

The Five Ways of Contemplative Photography: Part Four

4.  With the Eyes of the Lover

   The contemplative photographer who gazes at the world with the eyes of the lover steps beyond mere seeing into the realm of beholding.  It is an emotional interaction that is all about relationship.

   I find myself approaching flowers in this way.  It is not about knowing their botanical names or even thinking about their design and color.  It is purely a love affair on my part.

   I experience this wildly exotic Bird of Paradise with wonderment and rapture.  I don't need to know anything about it.  It is enough to just bask in its beauty and exuberant nature.

   I think this way of contemplative photography is the least cerebral.  It is pure and heart-felt appreciation...love for the sake of love.  This way always leaves me completely happy and content and if I could only approach my camera work in one way it would be with the eyes of the lover.

The Five Ways of Contemplative Photography: Part Three

3.  With the Eyes of the Poet

   When you approach your world in this way, with the eyes of the poet, you bask in the lyrical qualities of nature.  The metaphors are paramount.  Nothing is as it seems but everything stands in for other qualities and characteristics.

   The curving, undulating path that journeys through shadow and light can represent life.  To another, the non-poet, it may be simply a way of progressing through the landscape and staying on it is important otherwise, why is it there?  The poet knows beyond mere knowing.

   Some people, and hence, some photographers, seem to have a natural tendency to this way of being.  I know that it is a way I've looked at the world all my life as soon as I learned the concepts of analogy and metaphor.

   For the poetic contemplative photographer, the journal is as essential as the camera.  The poet is inspired by words and their relationship to the visual image.  Reading poetry is a great way to focus attention and quiet the mind.

   It is a vital practice for me as a contemplative photographer, this metaphorical thing.  Although I make no claims to being a literal poet, I would confidently claim the eyes of a poet.

Footnote:  Today is the second anniversary of the start of A Photographic Sage!  This has been such an amazing journey for me and I hope you have enjoyed the odyssey as well.



  

The Five Ways of Contemplative Photography: Part Two

2.  With the Eyes of the Artist

   Artists see the world as a compositional challenge.  They use the visual elements and design principles to organize and define the landscape.

   Structure is extremely important...so is perception.  They will utilize viewfinders to clarify their vision and define the edges of the picture's frame.

   Photographers that use this approach will discover the incredible order and symmetry in Nature as well as the beauty in the seemingly random and chaotic.  They will also revel in the abstract possibilities of what they experience. ( I call these kinds of photographs, Simplicities.) Their photographs can sometimes evoke painterly qualities or be starkly simple. (You can read an interview I had with a photographer who I think represents this way of regarding the world - Steve Dunn.)

   I felt I was using this particular way of regarding the world around me when I took my Contemplative Photography workshop with Kim Manley Ort  last Spring.  I made a concerted effort to elevate my sense of design when I considered each photographic possibility.  Perception, a heighten awareness of the most common place elements in the landscape, became my focus during that weekend.

   When you approach the world with the artist's eye you develop a great appreciation for the inherent beauty of the most ordinary and mundane things like the spot light I photographed above.  It was the design of the sunlight that I found so compelling.  You will develop the ability to discriminate and select and that ability will lead you to amazing visual discoveries.

The Five Ways of Contemplative Photography: Part One

    Over the years that I have spent ruminating about contemplative photography I have concluded that it is really an umbrella term.  There are many ways to practice it.   I've chosen 5.  I'm sure there are others we could add but this is a start.

1.  With the eyes of the Inquirer

   When you practice contemplative photography in this way, you look at the landscape as a botanist or geologist or any scientist would.  You will wonder at the diversity and intricacies of the natural world.  You will gain wisdom from understanding the why's and the wherefore's.

   It is an approach that demands that you touch and turnover.  It is the physical encounter with whatever you see that excites you.  It was as an Inquirer that I approached the stone beaches I visited in September.  I couldn't just photograph them, I had to handle them, collect them, wonder about their origins...they were fascinating.

   But the inquiring contemplative photographer takes the inquiry one step further as I did in the post, A Beach of Metaphors.  You can begin the process of contemplative photography in many ways but for  me there is only one way to end up, at least for this contemplative photographer, - searching for the metaphoric possibilities in the landscape.  Tomorrow we will look at the second way.