Contemplative Photography: Awakening to What Is

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is…” - William Blake

Early Years. My journey on the path of contemplative photography began in childhood before I knew the word contemplative or took photographs. The reason?

My parents, both visual designers, unknowingly shaped my early perception of how I see. My father's commercial design work and my mother's work in residential design heightened my awareness of all things visual. I was often disoriented when I would arrive home from school to find my mother had once again redesigned the living room. Was I in the right house!

In high school, in the summer, I’d work in my father’s design business. This early exposure in design trained my eye to notice how the placement of objects can compete for attention and how to properly hang a picture—significant experiences for my later journey into contemplative photography.

When I was eleven my parents owned a farm of 50 acres in Kentucky, mostly hills and woodlands. I would often hike alone in the woods, enjoying the trees, the quietness, and any critters I happened upon. Then, one day I stopped to rest and experienced a different awareness of my surroundings. The best word I can now use to describe it was “presence.” I was present, the trees were present, the path was present, the quietness too – and everything was still and was just as it was. It was as if I was in a photo and somehow the photo possessed time not for a moment but for several minutes. I did not think there was anything special or extraordinary about this experience. Now I can see how it was a precursor to an awakening to seeing things as they are and not as I might think they are.

Photography Emerges. Decades later, in middle adulthood, I began to photograph by setting the goal to take one photograph a day for a year. My aim was to simply photograph whatever I saw of interest. I did this for a year and collected 365 images.

Contemplation Emerges. Throughout adulthood, I have always had one kind of contemplative practice or another such as meditation. So, I had an appreciation for the meaning of contemplation, but I had never related it to photography. I began to question, what is a contemplative photograph? What qualifies? Does it have something to do with the subject matter such as a lovely sunrise or a tranquil lake? If so, were some things “contemplative” and others were not?

Fortunately, I had this print in my home by Elliot Porter, a well-known nature photographer. It was of an area in eastern Kentucky called the Red River Gorge.

As I walked past this print daily, I would at times stop and receptively “take it in” visually. And I became aware that in and among the flora, there seemed to be, yes, a certain presence, a stillness like what I'd experienced as a child in the woods. I wondered, is this a contemplative photograph? But it seemed so simple and well, uncontemplative.

So I turned to Google and searched for “contemplative photograph.” Among the results was a book by Andy Karr and Michael Wood, The Practice of Contemplative Photography. I bought it, contacted Michael Wood and expressed my interest in learning about what he knew. He was a co-director and co-founder with Julie DuBose of The Miksang Institute of Contemplative Photography and it provided training. Fortunately, a teacher, Brian Sano lived nearby and I took my first introductory class with him. The course was called Opening the Good Eye.

As my journey into contemplative photography has unfolded, I’ve come to realize that it is not merely about photographing stereotypic images of what I think is contemplative but about seeing—and being—in the world differently. In Part II, I’ll travel deeper into this evolving practice and its impact.

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Contemplative Photography: Awakening to What Is - Part I