The Practice of Contemplative Photography: Seeing the World with Fresh Eyes [Paperback]

While the authors don't mention it specifically until the Epilogue, this books takes a Buddhist or mindful approach to photography. It's more about how one sees than the mechanics of taking a photograph. In fact, the book is refreshingly free of technical aspect of digital photography only delving into this in two short chapters. There are plenty of other books you can get to teach you how to select a camera or how to use the Zone System and the like. This book is how to see what to photograph.

If you think that photography is flaming sunsets or cute puppy dogs or that you need to travel to remote locations to 'get the shot' either this book isn't for you or you desperately need it. If you examine the work of the great classic photographers such as Edward Weston, Stieglitz, Cartier-Bresson and many others, you'll note that their subjects are often mundane and similar to those subjects which you yourself have easily available to you.

So why do they have a place in photographic history where most of us don't? The answer is that they can see the color or texture or shape or non-shape (space) in a frame which yields a photograph that's artwork. This book discusses how to condition yourself to see what others overlook and then offers concrete exercises so you can achieve that mindful vision of the world. Once you can see it, photographing it is trivial. That's the point of the book. You need to develop the eye of the master. Once you have that, recording what your eye has found is simple.

The books starts off a bit roughly with the authors trying to define different ways of seeing. They may as well have just said you need to look at what you are seeing rather than going on several pages trying to define what the book is about. Thankfully, once you are into the book's topical matter and exercises, you will understand what they are driving at even if you aren't able to put it into a dictionary definition.

That the book is liberally illustrated with photographs showing what the authors are talking about at the time nicely reinforces the text with examples assisting the reader toward understanding. In the end, this book will make the world a more interesting place for you by teaching you to see what you've so often overlooked. Even if you never take a single mindful photograph, just being able to see the world contemplatively will offer you a much richer way to experience wherever you happen to be existing now.

Take a look again at the works of the masters such as those listed in this review. Then consider that subjects similar to their masterpieces are all around you if only you can find them. Well, you can find them and this book will be a good guide to assist you in learning how to finally see the world which has always been around you. Once you find this world, photographing it is the easy part.

I've been taking classes in contemplative photography for over a year now (google "Miksang"). This practice has helped me notice the things around me that I've never looked at before. My photographs are more interesting and I see pictures everywhere - even when I don't have my camera with me.

This beautifully written book is lushly illustrated with excellent photographs and will help you to produce fresher, more perceptive images. This is the first step down a path that will open your eyes to the world around you. So while its a book about photography, its really about seeing and visual perception.

Highly recommended for all photographers and artists. In fact, highly recommended for anyone who wants to really see the world unfiltered.

This book on contemplative photography might just start a revolution! The fundamental premise here is that in your ordinary experience a fresh and direct visual perception takes place which is free from preconceived ideas, concepts or filters. It's called `fresh perception.' There is beauty anywhere and everywhere, even in the most ordinary of situations, like at the kitchen sink. It is joyful to perceive in such a direct manner and this experience can be shared through `forming the equivalent,' i.e. taking a foto of what you see within that moment of fresh perception. It's revolutionary because we leave behind the complexities of overly technical photography and the complexities of manipulating what we see to convey a message. Here, the primary lens is one's own eyes and the sensor is our heart.

The Practice of Contemplative Photography is full of excellently printed fotos which exemplify the assignments that are used to approach the visual world of color, texture, simplicity, simple form, light and space. You might be inspired to jump right into these assignments and experience first-hand what the authors are talking about. These exercises are explained with a relaxed and friendly tone and I found that they contain just the right amount of explanation and detail.

There are also some sections which are technical or philosophical descriptions of the process of seeing. While I found some of this material challenging, it is certainly not more difficult than trying to understand how a digital camera's sensor works or the interrelationships between shutter speed, aperture and ISO! The authors also provide a description of basic photographic principles such as focal length, aperture and depth of field, and point out the technical basics that one needs in order to link that fresh perception with the click of the shutter.

The Practice of Contemplative Photography is full of surprises and I would recommend it to professional photographers or anyone interested in simply enjoying one's experience with the camera. See the world with fresh eyes!