Exploring Photography as a Meditation Practice
Class - Photography | Class unavailable for online registration. To register, please call 336-723-7395 Ex 1201.
In Contemplative Photographer, the camera is viewed as an extension of a person’s heart and mind and the resulting photographs as a visual, and highly personal, diary of experience and creative expression. Where traditional photography focuses on subject and technique, Contemplative Photography teaches you to pause, focus and connect with life. It is a form of meditation, anchoring you in present moment reality. Photographer Minor White is known to have encouraged his students to meditate before they began their camera work. By learning to slow down, focus and connect before clicking the shutter, you’ll discover that ordinary reality can be magical. This class is great
for photographers, meditators, artists at heart, or the curious wanting to explore the symbiotic relationship between contemplative practice and photography. You can use whatever camera that is available to you, including your cell phone.
Timothy Auman
I am an ordained lay Buddhist, certified mindfulness teacher, and former university chaplain dedicated to the application of Taoist and Zen thought to the issues of everyday life. As a visual artist, my approach to photography focuses on learning (or perhaps we could say re-learning) how to see. My work is influenced by the Miksang (the Tibetan word for “good eye”) movement, having studied with John McQuade and Miriam Hall for many years. In contemplative photography, we focus on taking the time to actually see, to become aware of and present with what is actually happening in the phenomenal world, and then create an equivalent image with our camera. The main difference between Miksang Contemplative Photography and other forms of photography is that Miksang is based on clear perception before an overlay of thoughts, interpretations, preferences, story lines, likes and dislikes, what we think might make a good image and so forth arise. Meditation, dharma teachings and contemplation are woven into all I teach. If you want to know more about contemplative photography, please sign up for a class.