Seeing what Sustains You: Contemplative Photography for the Soul
Class - Photography | Registration opens 8/11/2026 9:00 AM EDT
In demanding seasons of life, it is easy to become preoccupied with what is broken, urgent, or overwhelming. We begin to overlook the quiet moments, places, and relationships that nourish us. This course is an invitation to look again.
Using any camera or smartphone, participants will explore contemplative photography as a practice of paying attention to what gives life, restores hope, and grounds us in the present moment. Through gentle weekly explorations, mindful image-making, reflective conversation, and poetry, we'll learn to recognize the ordinary sources of strength that often go unnoticed.
Especially meaningful for those in the helping professions—and for anyone navigating the demands of daily life—this course is less about creating perfect photographs than about cultivating a way of seeing that renews the spirit.
This is not a course in self-care. It is an invitation to soul care—to discover that what sustains us is often already present, quietly waiting to be seen.
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.