What book next?

In my studies of contemplative photography, I have now read and worked through the exercises in Karr/Wood’s The Practice of Contemplative Photography, and McQuade/Hall's Looking and Seeing.  As background I have read True Perception, Trungpa Rinpoche’s talks on dharma art.

Another workbook from McQuade/Hall is set to be released in fall 2016, but that project has already been delayed and may be delayed again. 

I have found two more books in this tradition.   From the reviews online, it seems Julie DuBose’s Effortless Beauty is more a collection of reflections on her practice, rather than a programmatic teaching text. Michael Wood’s Opening the Good Eye appears to be much the same.  DuBose’s text looks more interesting for including a discussion of editing, something largely avoided by Karr/Wood and McQuade/Hall.

Anyone have any personal experience with either text?

I am presently engaged with Hoffman’s Photography as Meditation, a collection of reflections on the intersection of Zen and photography (and not a workbook).  Also on my bookshelf is Gross/Shapiro’s Tao of Photography, as well as a collection of Minor White essays.

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Book review: McQuade & Hall. (2015). Looking and Seeing: An Introduction to Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography (Way of Seeing Book 1)

McQuade & Hall. Looking and Seeing: An Introduction to Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography (Way of Seeing Book 1). Drala Publishing, 2015

The preface makes no bones about the authors' focus:  "...we are really talking about Enlightenment."

The purpose of Miksang is not just to make pictures, but to reorient vision in order to wake up to the world beyond things.  "The most direct way to spontaneous creativity [is] not in “breaking the rules,” [but] in making contact with the world before there are rules at all.”  This can be accomplished, the authors believe, with just a short shift of orientation, or Enlightenment by a few degrees.  They compare the mind to a ship, whose destination can be radically altered by a course change of just a few degrees.

The authors are students of Sakyong Trungpa Rinpoche, one of the first Tibetan refugees of the early exodus to settle and build a Buddhist community of westerners within the United States, and of his disciple, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

This text promises to be the first of three outlining the practice of Miksang, a Tibetan word meaning "good eye."  While the authors feel Miksang is best taught, or transmitted, in face-to-face encounters, they realize as well the value of texts in being able to provide more detail than available in workshops, seminars, or lectures.

Looking and Seeing: Section Seven: Assignment: Dot in Space continued

I find I often don’t get far if I start synchronizing as soon as I walk out the door.

By synchronizing I refer to the process of calming the mind, of letting thought settle and inviting an awareness of presence - the ambient temperature, the wind, the smell and sound of the environment, the weight of my body, the placement of the limbs, the rhythm of the breath. I do this in preparation for and immediately prior to shooting in whatever environment I happen to find myself.

This weekend I was shooting my neighborhood and had the intention of visiting a far corner that I don’t often get to.  But following synchronization, I find my pace slows considerably - as I intend.  And then I never get any further than a couple of blocks from my starting point because there is so much interesting detail nearby.

My solution was to walk deliberately to that far corner without my camera to hand and do my synchronization there, rather than right outside the door.  I thought of my walk as driving to my destination and that turned out to be a workable solution.

Book review: Trungpa, C., Lief, J. and Trungpa, C. (2008). True perception: the path of dharma art.

Trungpa, C., Lief, J. and Trungpa, C. (2008). True perception:  the path of dharma art. Boston: Shambhala.

This book constitutes the philosophical foundation of Miksang, sometimes known as Contemplative Photography, as taught by Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader and one of the first lamas to teach westerners in English vernacular.  His community proved to be long-lived and is known today principally as the center of a large Buddhist publishing concern, Shambala, and for a 4-year college, Naropa, the only accredited Buddhist institution of higher learning in the the United States.

This volume is not a treatise, but rather a collection of short texts, mostly transcribed talks on practice and aesthetics.  The book is comprised of 28 chapters, most only a few pages long.

The editor’s introduction summarizes Trungpa’s life, motivation, and goals, providing context for the texts that follow.  In essence, Trungpa was using a somewhat secularized version of Buddhist principles and practices to build an intentional community through which might emerge an enlightened society.  He was concerned with more than meditation or even art, but with all aspects of social engagement and management.

Looking and Seeing: Section Seven: Assignment: More Space

I've been focusing on space this week.  Besides setting my intention while out in the neighborhood, I've also taken to forums to seek feedback.  So far the response has been sparse:  one respondent noted a similar confusion.

I've also looked for additional text treatments on the subject (besides Karr and McQuade), but haven't yet found anything.  If anyone reading this knows of any, I would be grateful to hear from you.

I've gone back to review Karr's chapter and note these salient points:

Looking and Seeing: Section Seven: Assignment: Space

I went out with the intention of shooting space - and photographed a lot of stuff that wasn't.  I paused to synchronize, focusing on the breath, the air as it moved around me, the temperature, my posture.  After I calmed down and went looking, I found all kinds of interesting things, but little that might be space, Perhaps I was too concerned with shooting physical space - openings between things.  I think this is what happened in Japan the last time I did this exercise.  I came away with some interesting images, but not perhaps what Miksang instruction intends.

Looking and Seeing: Section Six: View Interlude

It seems the authors' use of view is equivalent to philosophy, one’s “point of view.”  This section dips into the ideas underlying the practice. The authors proceed with a review of the flash of perception as an unconditioned experience, something that happens to us, something that interrupts our everyday experience of the world.  The reality is that this flash is the reality behind the ideas that color our understanding of the world.  Our ideas are the equivalent of clouds, the flash of perception a gap in the clouds allowing us to see what has always been there waiting for us to discover (or perhaps rediscover, as children seem to have largely uninterrupted access).  

Assignment: Forms of Surface: Pattern

It seems the week got away from me.  Bicycled and shot through Abu Hail and Hor Al Anz, shot a bit in Dragon Mart, but otherwise didn’t much follow-up on specific assignments until Sunday, when I took a morning walk around the nearest bit of Nadha to our campus.  When I set out I was very much goal motivated, but fortunately I was able to relax by the time I got to where I wanted to start shooting and the morning was quite fruitful, with many interesting perceptions.  My intention was to look for light, texture, and pattern.  Here’s some of what presented itself.

Assignment: Forms of Surface: Texture

Texture is described as where vision and touch overlap.  In making or viewing images of texture, “the viewer should feel as if she is touching it with her eyes.”  The authors suggest that in exploring this aspect of the visual, one not look for objects you know to have texture.  These are the easy shots.  Look instead at objects that don’t appear to have discernible texture.

Looking and Seeing: Assignment: Front, Side and Back Light

Side light adds a bit of depth to the sign. 

Because of the lack of contrast, front light typically flattens a subject.  The only shape or form is often the outer line, but nothing within.  Side lighting is most often used in portrait photography as it provides more contrast and thereby greater volume to the subject.  Back lighting is often the most dramatic, but also the most difficult to photograph as one must often expose for great contrast.  The assignment description is quite loose here and allows for exploring these individually or together.  No specific number of images are prescribed.

Looking and Seeing: Assignment: Color

21 April
I started reading the book when I was in Japan, but didn’t have much chance to shoot.  I then tried picking up the book and shooting exercises a few weeks later in Tbilisi, but it was difficult to stay focused on the assignments when I had only a few days to explore the city.  Now that I’m back in Dubai and with no projects on the horizon, I’d like to complete this text and the exercises.  So this afternoon I reviewed my notes and set out on the first assignment, color.  I did so in my immediate neighborhood on SZR, but venturing a little bit further afield than usual.  I followed the suggested procedure by setting my intent (seeing for color), synchronizing my experience (mindfulness of the body in space and the experience of the phenomenal world), and being sensitive to flashes of perception.  What I found was restlessness - wanting to find images - and a repeated interest in objects rather than color.  It wasn’t until about 45 minutes to an hour into my 90 minute walk that I found I had forgotten about finding images.  I was simply engaged in my experience of walking and looking.  I will try again Friday and Saturday.  I haven’t yet looked at my images.  I plan to hold them until next week so as not to get caught up in creating images but focusing more on the process of being with the camera.

Notes: McQuade & Hall. Looking and Seeing: An Introduction to Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography: Preface, Sections 1 and 2

McQuade & Hall. Looking and Seeing: An Introduction to Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography (Way of Seeing Book 1). Drala Publishing, 2015

“John McQuade is one of the founders of Miksang Contemplative Photography, which he has presented for thirty years. He is the most senior teacher of the Nalanda Miksang school. John is a long time meditator, meditation instructor, and Shambhala Training director in the Shambhala tradition. He practices Daoist Qi-gong and writes on the contemplative arts. He holds an M.A in Phenomenology and a PhD in Social and Political Thought.

Miriam Hall is a contemplative arts teacher who lives in Madison, Wisconsin, and travels internationally to teach Nalanda Miksang, Shambhala Art, and contemplative writing. She is the second most senior teacher under John McQuade in the Nalanda Miksang School. She has been teaching these practices for over ten years...."

For a text explicating an alternative means of image making, the pedestrian cover image is unlikely to to inspire many to inquire further.