Contemplative Photography Chapter 8: The Flash of Perception (Exercise: The Human Camera)

The authors attempt a slightly more detailed definition, beginning with two examples.  In the first we see someone we know and recognize something has changed, but can’t figure out what.  In the second, while looking in a restaurant window at people having their meals, our vision shifts to reflection in the glass.  In the first, we are so occupied with our concepts that we cannot properly see;  in the second, we break through conception so that seeing and mind are aligned.  This can occur, they claim, only when there is a gap in the thinking process.  This happens quite frequently and just as frequently we don’t notice.  But we can train ourselves to be attentive and to rest in those moments and thereby extend the experience.

The flash of perception is ...

• motionless
• still
• feeling of landing, of being there
• grounded
• synchronized
• absorbed
• not projecting out [contained]
• unburdened by compulsion 
• sudden
• out of the blue
• discontinuous
• shocking
• jolting
• startling
• disorienting
• clear
• sharp
• brilliant
• definite
• precise
• rich
• intense

Exercise:  The Human Camera
The purpose here is to induce flashes of perception.  Stand in place, close your eyes and relax.  Feel your body, your breath, note the temperature or sounds or wind on your skin.  This process helps calm mind and body.  After a minute or more, when you are ready, turn 180 degrees and open your eyes.  Note your first visual encounter.  After a few seconds, close your eyes and repeat the process.  You can tilt your head up or down to vary the view.

Typically what you see first is not a chair, a person, a tree, or a cloud,  but something much simpler - green, blue, rough, square, oval, smooth, bright, dark - the elements that make up the things with names.  Our primary experience, in other words, is perception, not conception.   If you stay with your experience, what you may notice is that very shortly thereafter, the mind overlays conception - oh, I'm looking at a chair, or a person, or a tree.

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