Karr, A. and Wood, M. (2011). The practice of contemplative photography. Boston: Shambhala.
This book has been in my collection since about the time it was published in 2011. I started doing some of the practices before signing up for the MA Buddhist Studies and the BA Photography. The former is now all but finished and the latter has become less appealing and may be put on hold, if not abandoned entirely. I would like to continue to develop photographically, and as the contemplative philosophy mirrors my current conception and practice, this seems like an avenue worth pursuit. CP may also allow me to explore Buddhist connections to the visual arts, about which I have collected a good bit of reading material. There is also the possibility of joining CP workshops and developing the practice through community practice.
But first things first.
The book that forms the cornerstone of the movement grew out of an older practice dubbed Miksang, Tibetan for“good eye.” The Tibetan connection came through the Buddhist practice of Canadian Michael Wood, a professional photographer with a visual arts degree who grew tired of commercial work. Applying his spiritual practice to photography, he developed a series of exercises exploring the concept of clear seeing. American photographer Andy Karr appears to have dabbled in this and that - investment banking, teaching Buddhism, photography - and studied with Wood in the 1990s before putting together the idea for this book on CP.
Since its publication it has gained a substantial following, with a website, FB page, and Flickr group, among others. An Amazon search reveals a number of similar books have been published, and a range of web-based materials are also available. For the time being, my plan is to finish this book before looking at others.
The practice of contemplative photography is comprised of 17 chapters, ten of which contain exercises. Chapters 1-4 set out the philosophical foundations of the practice. A good part of the book is made up of images, 130 of 222 pages.
Ch Title Exercise
Ch 5: Getting Started: Color Assignment
Ch 6: Synchronizing Eye and Mind: Resting in the Present
Visual Exercise
Aimless Wandering
Ch 7: Lifting the Veil of Boredom: The Twenty Shot Assignment
Ch 8: The Flash of Perception: The Human Camera
Ch 9: Exploring Texture: Texture Assignment
Ch 10: Discernment: Looking Deeply
Ch 11: Simplicity: Simplicity Assignment
Ch 12: Joining Mind and Eye: Visual Awareness
Ch 14: Working with Light Light Assignment
Ch 16: Seeing Space: Space Assignment
Chapter One: Photography and Seeing
Begins by observing how we are so often trapped in our thoughts and remain unable to appreciate our vision. What we see is often a trigger to patterned emotions and thoughts, which we take to be an accurate representation of reality.
“Photography can be used to help distinguish the seen from the imagined, since the camera registers only what is seen. It does not record mental fabrications.” p2
As used by the authors, contemplate is to be present with something in an open space. In this space, mental activity is quieted in order to more clearly discern and be with the object of our attention.
“In contemplative photography the camera’s literalness is used as a mirror to reflect your state of mind. It shows when you shot what you saw - what actually appeared - and when you shot what you imagined. When a properly exposed photograph faithfully replicates your original perception, you saw clearly. When your original perception is masked in the photography by shadows, reflections, or other extraneous things that you didn’t notice, you were imagining.” p3
The authors compare CP to other types of practices which emphasize different aspects of the process and practice of photography, such as subject matter; what they call “concepts” but might be better described as genre (such as the typical sunset or landscape photo, which they liken to filters which overlay and color our experience); techniques (of composition, capture, or processing); imagination (as in conceptual art); and craft (the obsessive pursuit of technique).
Seeing, on the other hand, is a practice that forms the basis of great photography. Among the masters they cite as influential: Stieglitz, Weston, Modotti, Strand, Bresson, and Robert Adams.
“The images of these photographers are not constrained by subject matter or pictorial technique. They are not contrived or fabricated. They do not resort to formula or gimmicks.” p5
“...the uncontrived is what is true to life. This is not meant as an objective standard of truth, it is more like being true, being willing to express things just the way they are, without dressing them up in any way.” p6
"Art" is considered as a "self-expression". I am no longer trying to "express myself", to impose my own personality in nature, but without prejudice, without falsification, to become identified with nature, to see or know things as they are, their very essence, so that what I record is not an interpretation — my idea of what nature should be but a revelation, a piercing of the smoke screen artificially cast over life by neurosis, into an absolute, impersonal recognition. Art is weakened in degree, according to the amount of personality expressed: to be explicit, according to the warping and twisting of knowledge by inhibitions. Granting we all have inhibitions, economic, sexual — these must not color our work. The artist is not a petty individual God on a throne, free to exploit and expose his heartaches and bellyaches — he is an instrument through which inarticulate mankind speaks: he may be a prophet who at a needed moment points the way, forming the future, or he may be born at a time when his work is a culmination, a flowering in soil already prepared. - Edward Weston, Daybooks
Ch 2: Art in Everyday Life
“When you are impatient, resentful, or uninterested in daily life, you will be blind to the potential for living cheerfully and creatively.” p21
“We are not interested in the unusual, but the usual seen unusually.” - Beaumont Newhall
“Living artistically means appreciating things just as they are, in an intimate, unbiased way.” p22
The authors compare creativity to sunlight, which is always available, even when obscured by clouds. By giving up our preconceptions about what is beautiful and ugly, interesting and boring, worthy and unworthy, we free our minds of clouds in order to engage with whatever presents itself. Creativity, they believe, is available to all people at all times. Anything can be a subject for photography when seen clearly.
A short summary of the three afflictions (kilesa) follows: anger overwhelms subtlety, craving is preoccupation with projections and imaginings, while dreamy states of mind seek to avoid reality. All of these are like clouds blocking the sunlight. The best way to overcome these is attention and awareness. As they become less frequent, we begin to appreciate and cultivate the clear, quiet moments in between. Development is predicated on the cultivation of curiosity, patience, and a sense of humor.
“You don’t need a lot of craft or technique to produce fine photographs. When you experience your world clearly, and you shoot what you see, the results will be artistic.” p24
Ch 3: Two Ways of Seeing
Begins with a definition of seeing, which can be classified as conception and perception. When you notice a traffic light while driving, you have conceived the idea of a traffic light, a signal for regulating traffic flow. While you are waiting for the signal to change, you may notice the quality of the light, the texture of the plastic through which it shines, the shape of the light - this is perception. Usually, these two processes are blended and go unnoted. The cinema experience is informative. What we are perceiving is light and sound. What we conceive are people, places, the passage of time, and emotional engagement. Perception typically arises first, but is quickly overwhelmed by our expectations. This will be important for the practice of CP, for it is our initial reaction that we have to learn to trust, to develop our power of perception while keeping conceptions at bay.
Ch 4: The Practice
“The contemplative approach presents an entirely different alternative: we can align ourselves with intelligence that is not bound up with either thoughts or emotions. This intelligence is called insight, mindfulness, awareness, wisdom, and so on. (In the traditional Zen analogy, these terms are all different fingers pointing at the same moon.) This intelligence is knowing-mind, which is neither conceptual nor emotional. It exists within each of us but is covered over by discursive thinking and emotionality. Fortunately there are natural gaps in these coverings where the wisdom can shine through. In contemplative practice, we work with these gaps and shift our allegiance to this intelligence.” p42
The practice is comprised of three steps or stages:
- connecting with the flash of perception
- working with visual discernment
- forming the equivalent of what we have seen
The Flash of Perception are those moments when the conceptual mind, our train of thought, stops and we find ourselves seemingly suddenly aware of ourselves or our surroundings. This happened to me just this morning. I saw a piece of half-eaten toast piece and realized I didn’t remember eating any of it. Usually experience unfolds linearly, but perception comes in a flash, free from conception, projection, emotion. It is one-pointed, focused, clear. These moments come unannounced and cannot be fabricated. What we strive to practice is a commitment to noticing these gaps, and allowing them to linger without interference.
The latter is Visual Discernment - staying with the original perception, “to rest with perception in a soft, inquisitive way without struggle. Then the contemplative state that sees carries right through to taking the picture.” Two main obstacles are excitement and thinking photographically. We tend to excitement when we notice a flash and lose contact with the perception. Or, we start thinking about how to mold the perception into a photographic image and again lose the perception.
The final step is Forming the Equivalent, using the camera to produce an image close to what has been perceived. This begins with framing and proceeds to exposure, depth of field, and color balance. The authors suggest not using techniques to dramatize the image, such underexposing for saturated colors, or shooting from below for exaggerated size.
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