Transient Light and Minfulness

Photographing transient light - which moment well tell the story you want to tell about a time and place, in an ever changing state of light and shadows? Maybe mindful meditation can help...



Read on here ...

I find the journey towards the photo, the quiet and 'empty' time I enjoy the most. Whether conditions are right when I press the shutter I leave to 'the great magnet' to have brought me there on time. Some find nature very conducive in finding true awareness of universal energy and truths. There have been times standing in scenery, camera still in bag, I have felt true zen, and if my mind was so inclined could easily gone the Francis Collins route.

Using mindfulness mediation to capture landscape images is nice idea (as long as you don't have your eyes shut during the 'best' moment), at least as a way to pass the time when your sitting there. Having got the critical part of composition and camera settings out of the way, one can sit and tap into the subconscious allowing it to make the best decision. You'll get a nice photo and perhaps realize self will is an illusion.

Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts Dodge I have spoken to several landscape photographers in the last couple of years who seem to enjoy eastern philosophy and who find they enjoy the meditative approach to the environment in which they are stood or sat... watching and waiting - and at the same time letting the details of it all unfold

the self-hynosis/meditation process of clearing your mind of extraneous nonsense to get yourself in the "The zone" is good for all forms of creativity

Sounds useful - where should I slot it into the checklist ?

I take my best pictures with my beer-goggles on!

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There's a gentle joke, but a serious point also. (I make no apologies - I had to suffer a Dalek Invasion of my 'Checklist' thread ). Phil's thoughts on capturing the moment here and my own ideas (expressed through the checklist) are in fact related.

They represent almost the outer extents of the photographically creative & practical spectrum. By occupying such opposing positions they are in fact interrelated, opposing but attracting, interdependent. Neither offer a complete truth or solution -

- a technical checklist will only prepare the way, provide the ready means to capture that transient light in the highest quality recording. But it cannot create the moment or provide the inspiration.

- a meditative & mindful approach can only inform and inspire the moment of capture and produce an inspired and informing record following a considerable number of previous preparations, skills and experiences have joined. For example, a location is known and explored, a map is studied, the seasons and time of day are considered, the sun directions and weather is researched, a journey is planned, the camera is made ready, the car has enough fuel, the body has some snacks, the lens is fitted, modes and settings are checked .... many of these may be instinctive or not consciously considered, but they occur none the less.

They must occur before the inspiration can have effect. The camera / equipment checklist is a part of this, either applied directly or just through experience. This is the interdependence between the two ..... neither alone can produce a great photo.

Nothing like a boring meticulous robotic left brain checklist to ruin that medidation time

Nothing boring about the planning involved in great landscape photography - would add to the excitement and anticipation I should think. And any checklist-style of approach to carrying out the shoot is best left to complement the creative elements - they will work in harmony.

Individuals will choose how forward in their conscious are the individual steps. The most experienced will be on auto-pilot for much of it. My main point is that Phil's inspired images are the result of this combination of elements - the knowledge of location, the experience in the preparations and being there at the right time, the technical skills allowing the highest quality captures .... and finally, at the right moments, the inspiration and motivation to press the button at the time he chooses, by whichever experience he wishes to inform that.

zzzzzzzzzz

Gosh, that's just so super - I see you've got some meditation practice going on there. That's the spirit

If Private Eye still has "Pseuds' Corner", this thread would find its perfect home there.

Philip

http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/about-us.html

Thanks very much for the considered posts by McGregNi and Smeggypants - it was meant to just be part of the considerations of what will help the aim to make photographs that invite the viewer to a specific view of place/ time/ space - one that hopefully encourages the viewer to spend time gazing at it and one that hopefully encourages an emotive response from the viewer.

I agree that technical skills and a checklist (conscious or sub-conscious) is an essential 'craft' element by process of learning/ experimentation and practice.

Creative vision is perhaps developed by something along the lines of the 'mindfulness' approach, as by spending time in a location and becoming truly 'aware' of the subtlties and intricacies of what we see in front of us (rather than an "ooh - that's pretty".. click... kind of cursory glance). This is where the soulful response and the art are going to come in to play – the final elements of the ‘Art, Craft & Soul’ mantra which the great Joe Cornish considers fundamental to his process.

Funnily enough, this ties in with some related thoughs on another new blog article - this time in 'Getting to know a place'.. which coincidentally touches on aspects of McGregNi's earlier response.