I Can Finally Name It

For many years I have enjoyed taking pictures. First with a 35mm camera (never did learn to develop them myself) and more recently with digital. What is truly awesome about digital cameras is that--because there is no developing involved--you are able to take multiple pictures of the same thing, upload them, and pick-and-choose which you like or do not like...an example is the photo above (titled, red berry on moss); that is one of 5 or 6 photos but that's the one I liked best. Anyhow, I'm getting off topic...as I often do. Taking photos, for me, can be a sense of heightened awareness of the everyday beauty around me...and the internet is an easy and great way for me, or anyone, to share what I see. In many ways I've often thought of photography as (with the risk of sounding cliche or hokey) a form of meditation in motion...which you are then able to freeze-frame. And like many things, I incorporate it into my life; I usually carry my little Sony Cybershot with me...someone I know recently said to me that they wished they themselves had time to ride a bike and take photos. I didn't understand that comment and I still don't...that to me is like saying I wish I had time to live life; it's not as if it is something extra in my life, it is part of my everyday pattern. Anyhow, I was reading the magazine Yoga International yesterday and saw and article titled, Contemplative Photography. That's it, I thought! It was like a light bulb lighting over my head....I can finally name it. I had never heard the term before but it describes it (to me) completely. Apparently it is a style of photography that began with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and he based it on the Tibetan word, Miksang, meaning "good eye." He also founded the Miksang Institute of Contemplative Photography. Click any image for a larger view.