In part 1 of this series, I talked about my beginnings as a photographer and how I moved from a focus on technique to one of creative self-expression. I’d started to blog and write online and had set up an online store for my photographs. In part 2, I talked about my evolution from creative self-expression to self-alteration (nod to John Cage). I was beginning to practice contemplative photography and had launched the Adventures in Seeing Workshop, which became a book in 2016. Photography was no longer about creating a final print as it was about awareness. It still is, yet it’s been six years since that last post, so I thought it was time for part 3, which looks at how the work has evolved since 2016, with links to posts written during this time.
Relationships and Seeing
Through my practice of contemplative photography, I was beginning to realize that every photograph is a reflection of a relationship or an encounter between two subjects. The photograph represents the relationship, what I call a “visual namaste.” In 2017, a number of books, podcasts, and videos were pivotal in helping me to understand this relational aspect more fully. As the year began, Laura Sewall’s book, Sight and Sensibility: The Ecopsychology of Perception, become my bible on the subject of perception and relational seeing. In March, I wrote my first post on this book, A Relational Way of Seeing.
“The revelation born of seeing and feeling in one seamless, syaesthetic moment is that nothing in this world is unrelated, not a single thing. Distinctions blur and relationships emerge, shimmering and shining like light on water. Where does water end and light begin, anyway? We see the glitter, the relationship itself. Each thing of the world becomes more than it once appeared to be. And all of it quivers, dense with possibility.” ~ Laura Sewall, Sight and Sensibility
In December, I shared the incredible work and thoughts of photographer Uta Barth. She is unique in that she photographs the act of seeing itself. And, of course that requires seeing relationships.
“It’s a shift from seeing the world made up of things to seeing a world that’s open and primarily made up of relationships, where whatever is manifest, whatever we see, touch, feel, taste and hear, whatever seems most real to us, is actually nonsubstantial. A deeper level of reality exists beyond anything we can articulate.”
In a post on John Berger and the Art of Looking, I wrote that Berger emphasized that HOW we look determines the type of relationship. If we’re producing a document of a moment in time, then we’re probably pleasant acquaintances. A photograph that shows our appreciation of beauty means we’re probably good friends. However, if we get to the heart of a subject, then we’re probably lovers (in the truest sense). We’re getting inside of it. Berger says that this is the secret of looking and seeing.
An On Being podcast episode with quantum physicist Carlo Rovelli helped me to see from the perspective of science. During the 18th century, scientists thought of the world as made up of matter, particles moving around. This way of knowing no longer applies. Scientists in the 19th century thought the world was made up of energy. Today, Rovelli describes the world in terms of flashes of light, like fireflies, where interactions are always occurring.
Studying Perception
At the beginning of 2018, I took three months off from social media and blogging to focus on deep work, specifically the study of perception. An instrumental book I read during this time was on the artist Robert Irwin, who said “Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees.” Like Uta Barth, he sees in terms of relationships, and especially the effects of light and space on the art itself. I wrote a post on the book, Seeing is Forgetting (inspired by Robert Irwin).
“That the light strikes a certain wall at a particular time of day in a particular way and it’s beautiful – that, as far as I’m concerned, now fits all my criteria for art. Aesthetic perception itself is the pure subject of art. Art existed not in objects but in a way of seeing.” ~ Robert Irwin
By April, I began to share my learnings on perception, beginning with the qualities of perception in this post, What is Perception? Later in the year, I shared my radical evolution in understanding the mind, courtesy of neuroscientist Dan Siegel in Reframing Mind. He sees the mind as much more than the brain. It encompasses the entire body and even external influences. Siegel says that mind is “embodied and relational, perhaps even conscious awareness itself.”
Building on the study of the mind, another influential book during this time was Douglas Christie’s Blue Sapphire of the Mind, Notes for a Contemplative Ecology. I began to explore the idea of perception within a particular place. With contemplative photography we practice seeing with the heart; senses are open, we’re paying close attention, and we see how everything is connected. The same goes for contemplative ecology. With this approach to life we also feel a sense of responsibility, not only to our human community, but to the entire ecological community. Christie begins with these basic assumptions.
* Life is not made up of objects, but rather networks of dynamic interactions.
* Change is ongoing and necessary for life.
* Humans are dependent on the health of these networks
This book took me back to my studies on environmental literacy and I wondered how I could incorporate what I knew about perception within the context of a responsibility towards place.
Perception and Place
At the end of 2018, I offered a new course, 30 Days of Perception, using Instagram as our meeting place for the first time. And I began developing an in-depth workshop on PLACE. 2019 was the year of the PLACE workshop – a 6 months online experience with people from all over the world getting to know their own places at a deeper level. It was a fabulous experience for me personally going even deeper with the place where I live. In June, I wrote a post called Perception is Grounded in Place.
After returning from a workshop in Ireland, I wrote about Reciprocity and Place. I began to realize that awareness of perceptions just might be the most important practice we could undertake in this life. Later that fall, two books informed my thinking on awareness, The Art of Is and How to Do Nothing.
The end of 2019 marked 10 years of offering writings and workshops and I spent some time reflecting on what I’d learned along the way. In this post, Time for a Reframe, I shared my 12 most important learnings. Two of those have been particularly important as I headed into 2020. Regularly challenge your way of seeing. It’s always limited. Just noticing the way your mind works leads to transformation. And, let your purpose reveal itself to you, one step at a time.
Enter 2020, the Year of Covid
My plan for 2020 was to expand on my writing on perception, as I expected to be on the road quite a bit, travelling and attending seven weddings. We have not yet attended one wedding. My phrase for the year was to “love everything” that happens, challenging for sure. 2020 has not turned out like anyone expected and there will be no return to what we considered normal before. This time at home has allowed me to continue writing and exploring my own place. I’ve read a number of books and taken a workshop on spiritual ecology. I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting, watching, and listening.
So, what’s next? Honestly, I don’t know yet. Photography continues to be an important daily practice for being aware of the world around me. Meditation is a daily practice for being aware of my mind, and especially my cognitive biases. Writing helps me to organize and dissect my thoughts. I’ve noticed in particular how the inability to travel changes life and how the spread of information and misinformation online has affected people’s relationships. I’m wondering what it means to truly see, and about the importance of paying attention to what’s needed right where you live. We’re all in a co start state of evolution, shaped by the world.