Tuesday 9 November 2010

The Good Eye: Mindfulness, Buddhism and Photography

Duncan Moss, November 9th

When you appreciate a painting or a piece of music or a work of literature, no matter when it was created, you appreciate it NOW. You experience the same nowness in which it was created. It is always NOW ~ Chogyam Trungpa.

We can practice mindfulness in other ways than sitting on a cushion.  Duncan will show what happened when his students brought their cameras to their meditation.  In ‘mindful photography’ they discovered a tradition developed by the famous Tibetan Teacher Chogyam Trungpa, in which the quality of mindfulness informs photography and other forms of creativity.  Duncan teaches Clinical Psychology at the University of Plymouth, and has a long-standing interest in making mindfulness more accessible.  He is an amateur photographer.
Posted by at

5 comments:

  1. Peter9 November 2010 at 23:19

    I’m still mulling over the idea that (for me) the act of photography is removed from my appreciation of the photograph. This differs from other creative acts, eg the act of cooking and appreciation on eating; or writing and review. When I carefully point and shoot I have an expectation of what I want to create. Usually this doesn’t work out. However, I am able to appreciate a random photo I have taken which is unexpectedly successful; surprisingly beautiful. Consequently I don’t have any sense of what my eye sees (and I hope to grasp) connecting up with what I have created. Is this because - as an unskilful point and shooter - my good pictures are flukes, like a child creating just the right balance in a messy painting to make it comparable to a Rothko? Or do more proficient photographers have the same separation of photograph from photography?

    ‘Point and shoot’ ~ ‘see and reveal’ (As in the revelation of the beauty in the ‘level 3’ photograph)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Duncan10 November 2010 at 14:52

    Hi Peter
    Thanks for your post! It's great to be part of this new Sharpham blogosphere.
    I wonder if that it is part of the magic of photography that we have both the unexpected of the surprisingly beautiful photo as well as the disappointment of our expectations not being met? I wonder if this is always part of creative engagements - that sense of uncertainty. I'm kind of glad I can never be sure of how my photos will turn out. But however the photo turns out, I think I notice when I am able to be a little more present to the world - times when I can feel in my body that I am more genuinely seeing - maybe in the end that's what counts ( the process is the outcome?).

    Thanks to you and everyone else who came to Sharpham last night. In case you are interested here are some links to one or two things that might be of interest.

    First - this paper : http://psychology.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/erosch2005.pdf
    is an exploration of Buddhist and Western ideas of perception.
    Second - Here is a link to a site on Miksang:- http://miksang.com/
    Finally:- a paper on the 'despotic eye' and the work of Robert Romanyshyn:- http://www.janushead.org/10-2/Romanyshyn2.pdf

    All the best

    Duncan

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown10 November 2010 at 21:40

    Point and Shoot = BE and SEE?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Duncan15 November 2010 at 12:02

    Hi Everyone
    I forgot in my last post to say that I'd be pleased to stay in touch by email if anyone wants to contact me:- at duncan.moss@zen.co.uk
    All the best
    Duncan

    ReplyDelete
  5. Karen Howse15 November 2010 at 20:06

    Hi Duncan,
    Having just spent 2 years during my MA in Fine Art exploring one wood and making art, it was so inspiring to hear your talk exploring similar territory from another perspective.

    The disscussion afterwards was fascinating too, revealing how the ingredient of mindfulness changed the relationship of the photographer to the place/object and to the final photo, the whole process often changing perceptions, as in the student who took the photos of the street she saw everyday and level 3.

    I like the comment 'The process is the outcome'. In my own work this is very much so. My question with my own art at the moment is how to show the process? Is the process evident in the art/photograph made? maybe that means also including the ones that didn't work?! Best wishes
    Karen

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)