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Q&A With the Authors

We would love to hear from you. Please post your questions about contemplative photography, comments about the book, or other observations about contemplative mind and life. We will do our best to respond to whatever you post. (Please keep in mind that we are running as fast as we can, and may not get to this as soon we would like.)

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Recent Questions and Answers:

What is Fresh

Submitted by John Wolf
Question: 

Maybe you could say a little more about what you mean by "fresh"? I'm trying to be open and non-judgmental when taking photos, but at the same time looking for something (color, texture) and "freshness". Not sure if I can do both at the same time. Thanks!

Answer: 

Fresh is another way of saying concontrived or unfabricated. It means a perception that isn't distorted by the thinking mind.

Space versus Simplicity

Submitted by fredkral.com
Question: 

Thank you for curating the website for all of these years; It continues to present thoughtful photos. I keep reading and re-reading the instructions so I can tell Space and Simplicity apart. When I go to the Space gallery, I see many photos that I thought would be Simplicity. Many have a clearly defined object -- that my attention is drawn to -- against a plain background. I know that many photos could belong in different albums. Yet, could you please give some guidance, again? Thank you.

Answer: 

That's a tough one! Sometimes images are posted in the space gallery because that's the way they were submitted, and there is no other obvious gallery to post them to. That doesn't mean that they are good examples of space photos (the same is true for the other galleries).
 
The defining characteristic of a space photo is that visual space (sometimes called negative space) is the dominant element in the perception.

The Book

“This is not your usual ‘how to be a better photographer’ book. It takes you into deeper water. It requires investigation and commitment to areas new to you. Among other things, you will think about perception in new ways. If you read this book with care, and without skepticism, it will radically expand your thinking, seeing, and photography.”

—Jay Maisel, photographer
and author of Light on America