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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:

Order of Lessons

Submitted by Peggy Jones Pfister
Question: 

Hi, I found and loved your book before I found your Facebook page and website, and I'm thrilled to have found them. I enjoy the contemplative photography method, and find the resulting photos to be quite evocative and beautiful. My questions is this ... Is it important to do the lessons and/or submit photos for the various lessons in order? I have read the entire book and have flashes of perception (at least I think I do) in several areas. I also have photos that I have taken previously that fit into various lessons ... so is order important? Thank you in advance for your thoughts and advice.

Answer: 

The purpose of the assignments is to train us to recognize the flash of perception. They are sequenced from more obvious to more subtle, making it easy for beginners to progress. That's why it's a good idea to tackle the assignments in order. Having said that, any flash of perception is a good basis for the practice and for an image. You don't have to reject any perception because it is not related to the assignment you are working on.

Medititation - Classifications

Submitted by Ebrahim Badahdah
Question: 

I have gone through the book a while ago. I did have a good sense of the topic beforehand. Sometimes I feel what you are asking is overwhelming because flashes comes to me naturally, or at least this is what I think! I also have looked through the galleries and I wonder how can we make sure that it is a flash of perception. I mean I can just take any photo and submitted as a contemplative photograph? I got lost with classifications, sometimes a photo has colors, lights and shadows and textures for instance. I go to spaces gallery, I see colors and shadows besides spaces what is he bottom line for classifications?

Answer: 

These are good questions. Yes, flashes of perception come naturally, but we often overlook them. The practice helps us recognize the natural process so that we can learn to bring out our inate capabilities instead of cover them over.
 
The criteria for classifying images is internal, not objective. The point of the assignments is to provoke flashes of perception connected with the intention of a particular assignment. If the intention is color, that should spark certain perceptions and the images should reflect that.
 
You should be able to identify what triggered a particular flash through the visual discernment. That's the basis for the classification.

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