Up: [[Photography]] Related: [[Experiencing Time]] Created: 2023-07-16 > [!Orbit] David Ulrich in *Zen Camera* > You enter the flow... A greater energy takes over. You are energized by the work, and an expanded focus and intense absorption comes naturally. (p.57) Now this is a concept I can get behind! I wrote about flow in my books. I experienced flow many times when writing those books, occasionally when playing with paints or pastels and, recently, a few times when prepping for my expert sessions for LYT. But I have never once experienced flow when taking a photograph and I would like to. J. wrote this week about the power of naming for “bringing things into the light.” So true. See also [[Naming Things Into Existence]]. When I conceptualize the missing piece as a flow experience, I immediately lose the resistance and fear I’ve been feeling about trying to adopt a whole new way of being in the world. More important, I can instantly see what’s stopping me. Flow requires inhabiting that sweet spot where skill matches challenge. There’s my problem. I don’t have the skill. I have the desire. I want the challenge. I get glimpses of the themes that grab me, what J. is referring to as ‘resonance’, although I’m at quite an early stage of that. Off the top, themes that are important to me, evident in the books I read and the things I think about, include: transformation, growth, challenge, and story. I suspect these labels will become much more nuanced as I start to see them and create them in my photographs. But first comes the recognition that I know absolutely nothing about my camera. I just got a new one this week, an iPhone 14 Pro that has even more features than my old one, but it might as well be a simple point and shoot like the old Kodaks I’d bought for my students when we were taking and developing photos. It’s no wonder I had such a good time with the first three weeks of our [[Zen Camera]] work when pointing and shooting was all that was required. Okay. Now that I know, I can fix this. I’ll do some skill development alongside our Zen Camera work. I certainly have enough resources for it. Ulrich has some basic instruction on his website, and I long ago purchased a course called Photo Meditations and another on iPhone Photography, neither of which I’ve touched.