Quality is the relationship between humans and their experience. ~ Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

The book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is my favourite book of all time. It is a treatise on the subject of “quality.” The quality of our lives depends on the quality of our relationships – with ourselves, others, and the natural world.

As photographers we can get caught up in the technical quality of the photograph and miss the experience completely, or rush through it too quickly. We forget to savour the relationship that’s being established in the moment.

Three of my favourite photographers speak to this – Ansel Adams years ago and Guy Tal and David duChemin more recently.

Living for me is creative action; I am unsatisfied with simply existing. I can’t help it – it is part of my makeup. I want to know every moment how I can refine and intensity my relations with the world, and every moment make some definite contribution – some crystallization of a perception – some actual golden experience. ~ Ansel Adams, Letters & Images

Guy Tal loves wilderness for its own sake, not as a place to make great photographs. For that reason, he doesn’t consider himself to be a wilderness photographer. Photography is a means of expressing his experience, wherever he is. It just so happens that he is often in wilderness.

Rare are those who for whom being in wilderness is an experience to be pursued, and to find meaning in, for its own sake – photographs or no photographs. ~ Guy Tal, The Art & The Wild

David duChemin realized that he was often looking for photographs, rather than discovering and experiencing the magic that’s always there to be found. When he’s not looking, his best photographs come from his experience of the magic.

The best photographs are an intoxicating mix of “Oh my God look at that!” (even when “that” is just a spark of an idea) and all the reactions and experiences to “that” that go on in our imagination before finally coming out into the world in a tangle of creative decisions we make with lenses, exposure, focus, and the geometry of the frame. ~ David duChemin, Find the Magic

The quality of the experience depends on the way we approach and serve life. 

This post was originally inspired by a prompt from Chris Brogan in Quest 2016. – “How will you better clarify whom you serve and what you do for them in 2016?” Normally, I would go to “who do I serve in my business,” but what kept coming up for me was that I must first “serve life” before I can serve anyone or anything else. I must “serve life” to have quality of life. What does this mean?

* to engage with life
* to experience the magic
* to be open to what the universe holds for us
* to pay attention
* to see deeply
* to respect, even celebrate impermanence
* to love with my whole heart
* to forgive myself and others
* to lift up, not tear down
* to extend a helping hand
* to nurture
* to give generously, yet take care of myself
* to leave a place better than it was
* to always be growing
* to be humble and bold
* to never give up, yet let go when necessary

I see the many paradoxes here, which is why it’s so important to know oneself and to see and experience the reality in any given situation. This is living a contemplative life. This is also a way of approaching photography – with humility, respect, and openness.

Learning to see is a forgotten art, full of hope and promise, that assists in gaining necessary self-knowledge of who we are and a deeper, richer, truer engagement with the world. ~ David Ulrich, Diamonds and Rust: Art and the Inner Life

This year, as a way of enhancing quality of life and relationships, I will focus on serving life, and then photograph and write from that place. When we serve life, quality follows.

How do you serve life?

** Books mentioned have Amazon affiliate links, meaning I make a few cents if you purchase through my link. I only recommend books that I’ve read.