Gifts

by Carol

I was given a gift this morning - a thought to mull over. And that thought fits perfectly into my experiences of the past week. Over Labor Day weekend I attended Kim Manley Ort's Contemplative Photography workshop, co-taught by Patricia Turner,  on the incredibly beautiful and raw Star Island. I should have taken the name of the workshop literally - because the weekend left me much to contemplate - not only about photography, but about life. Oh my - I've had some big thoughts since then! And I am very aware that a door has opened a little bit wider. Another path has appeared for me and I can't wait to walk it.

My gift this morning came in the form of a quote from Polly Young-Eisendrath. Here is the sentence that started my mind rolling: "People did not live with mirrors or photographs or anything like that for eons of time, " and in many places still those things are not a part of daily life. Think about the impact of that - the change in perspective it creates. Looking in a mirror creates a separation. There is you , and there is the image you are staring at. It feeds comparison and insecurity and separation from others. Polly, a zen Buddhist and psychotherapist, encourages us to look away from ourselves and out into the vast world. Move from that narrow, self-important position - and look - no REALLY LOOK at your surroundings. That simple action will create an earthquake - a seismic shift away from that tiny, narrow focus of worry and regret and judgement to a view of all we are given. It is so much better to feel insignificant than insecure; so much better to focus on gratitude, rather than judgement.

Star Island is an outdoor paradise, not much spoiled by human contact. The entire Island is only forty acres and nature is on full display! Life there is simple by necessity, because it takes great effort to bring anything there from the mainland. Ever since camp as a little girl, I have enjoyed the way people (myself included) settle into a nature experience, and I watched it again on Star. At the first class everyone is a bit self-conscious. They have dressed the way they choose to present themselves; perhaps they have given thought to how they will introduce themselves. They are deciding how much of themselves to reveal - they are still using the mirror.

But as Kim and Patricia led the workshop, the pretense began to drift away. Thankfully, they taught the workshop with much free time. A workshop on contemplation should provide you with time to contemplate! That may seem obvious, but it is so often not. Kim and Patricia toiled as guides - giving us  methods, like "visual listening," and "meditative drawing" -  to help us see and receive our surroundings. And then they released us out into nature, where we were free to discover the earth's message to us. True teachers, they realized that our lessons come to us when they are needed. They refrained from being "the experts," so that we could discover our own expertise.  I am so grateful that they realized their roles as cultivators, rather than pontificators.



I watched, and enjoyed as we all progressed from that first introduction, to that last day when the mirror is not given a thought and you hop out of bed at 5 AM, to wander out into the fog, forgetting to brush your hair or teeth! There will be time for that later - right now I have to watch the show!

And what about photography? Well, when you "keep calm and receive the image," it is an emotional experience. You are a participant in it, and not an observer of it. The message from an image taken like that, transcends the paper the photo is printed on. When you have an emotional attachment to your image's subject - so will the person viewing your photograph - and isn't that our goal as photographers - "true creative expression?" 

Kim and Patricia left us with a traditional Celtic blessing: 

May the stars light your way

And may you find the interior road
Forward!

(p.s. - If you would like to see some images from our group, Kim has published our final slideshow. You can see it here. You will not regret finding Kim's blog. If you want more of this philosophy, I also encourage you to visit Patricia's blog here.
And would you share what called to you today in our Flickr group?)