Up: [[Zen Camera]] Created: 2023-08-12 Updated: 2025-01-01 # Thoughts on Reading Chapter 3 ## I Don't Know How to Visually Represent My Interests I’m not yet able to empty my mind before taking a photograph. I am relying on the spontaneity of snapping shots but that only happens when I am out walking by the river with Toffee. The result is *images as pinned butterflies* as Ulrich puts it. I am certainly taking way more photographs than I have in the past and am significantly happier with the images. However they aren’t really meaningful to me, they don’t move me as images, and I think that’s because of the other part of my struggle which is that I don’t know how to make a visual representation of my interests, which are of inner life and mysteries of the universe variety. It’s the dilemma I also have when I am painting and doing collage. There I have learned some ways of working intuitively that have sometimes brought me great surprises and insights, but it’s hit or miss and doesn’t translate easily to photography. The art form of surrealism developed as a response to dreams, but my dreams are almost never surrealistic. Besides, there are so many more connections to be made beyond just dreams. The challenge is to figure out what those images, whether photographed, painted, drawn, collaged, or written about, might be. Ulrich encourages me to *Strive to be free and empty. Trust my own perceptions and let resonance be my guide* Right. I’d love to. But what does that mean I’m taking photos of? ## References David Ulrich suggests looking at references to see what appeals. There has been an interesting connection this week. I own a bunch of art courses from Domestika. One of them is called *Inside a Creative Notebook* by a highly skilled paper artist named [Karishma Chugani](https://karishmachugani.com/do/). For every lesson in the course, Karishma shares several influences and inspirations. This is reminding me not just of my love of learning but even more specifically, my love of connections in learning. Connections within and across disciplines are so fascinating to me. They’re why I preferred the annotations to the story of *Alice in Wonderland*; why I’m so drawn to the symbolism and mythological and psychological connections in the Tarot; why Jungian psychology with its feeling of being a student of the world so appeals to me. ## Searching References I liked Ulrich’s example of the guy who did a series of metaphoric images regarding death and really see the value of working in series, especially in this chapter about identity. I also looked at images from all of the photographers he mentioned. They were interesting but nothing I wanted to mimic. I’ve also recently discovered the photography of [Sophie Calle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Calle) She took a job as a chambermaid in a Venice hotel back in 1981 in order to surreptitiously take photographs of the personal items in people’s hotel rooms, all of which were published as black and white images in a book appropriately titled *Hotel*. I don’t agree with her sneaky stealth approach to photography and won’t buy her book for that reason, and because it’s $50, but the idea of photographing objects that serve as metaphors of my inner life really appeals to me. I’ve tried it just a little bit this week and am quite happy with this image. Last week’s Tara image would also qualify for me. #Photo ![[Unicorn stones and candle.webp|500]] ## Audience Ulrich believes that *sharing is paramount.* I don't agree. I do want to *find a way of seeing that grows from my own inimitable experience*, but I don’t actually care about it being meaningful for any audience. An audience of myself, and J during check-ins, is what suits me right now. P.S. — Paintner has a sentence that I like even better than the italicized Ulrich one above. > [!Orbit] Christine Valters Paintner in *Eyes of the Heart* > Our focus is on allowing our authentic expression as a response to being fully present to come through as much as possible. We are cultivating our ability to see. (p. 32) Looking at the differences between the library in my current home and the one from my previous home, my focus before was on helping other people connect to their creativity and capabilities. My library now is for connections to me, to my inner life and to the mysteries of the universe. So when Ulrich asks the question of whether I’m more interested in foundational or individual aspects of identity, the answer is almost 100% individual. And under those conditions, it makes sense that audience would not be important to me. ## Bienveillance In *Inside a Creative Notebook* Karishma Chugani shares this French word which she loves. Bienveillance means a gentle gaze. She encourages us to approach our art with such a gaze. Ulrich, of course, talks about this concept repeatedly in *Zen Camera*. And then I just read the second chapter of Christine Valters Paintner’s book *Eyes of the Heart*, a chapter titled ‘Practices and Tools to Cultivate Vision’ and she has written of gazing as *looking upon something with the eyes of the heart.* Paintner’s suggestion is to engage in a practice she called [[Visio Divina]], which means sacred seeing. The idea is to [[Receive Images Rather than Take Them]]. ## Next Week Next week I’m going to work with objects in my home and backyard, seeing what I can do with setup and lighting, such as candles, to communicate something of the significance of those objects to me, their metaphorical meanings. I will be doing my best to work from a heart-centred place. Because of that, I will not be worrying at all about how many photos I’m ‘taking’ in a day. One photo received is worth a dozen taken/captured/shot. And on reflection, the lack of concern around number of images has been true for me for the past few weeks. I use my camera way more than I ever did and am happy with that. I’m not worrying anymore about meeting even our seriously reduced quota from Ulrich’s originally very significant number.