The Slow Camera: Learning to See in a Fast World
Class - Photography | Registration opens 8/11/2026 9:00 AM EDT
We live in a world that moves at remarkable speed. We rush from place to place, scroll from image to image, and often pass by the quiet beauty woven into our everyday lives. Our cameras have become faster than ever, capturing hundreds of images in moments. Yet all that speed cannot slow down the person holding the camera. The Slow Camera is an invitation to practice a different way of seeing.
This course is not about mastering camera settings or creating technically perfect photographs. It is about learning to pause, pay attention, and rediscover the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary.
Through simple contemplative practices, gentle walking explorations, poetry, and mindful photography, participants will learn to notice light, color, texture, pattern, and the subtle moments that so often go unseen.
Using any camera—or simply a smartphone—you'll discover that photography can become more than a creative hobby. It can become a practice of presence, gratitude, and wonder.
Whether you're an experienced photographer or have never thought of yourself as creative, this course offers a chance to slow down, become more attentive to the world around you, and perhaps even to yourself. Because sometimes the most important thing a camera can capture is not an image, but a way of seeing.
Open to beginners and experienced photographers alike, this course welcomes any camera and any level of familiarity with the craft. What matters most is a willingness to look closely, listen deeply, and trust your own creative voice and vision.
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.