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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:

seeing fresh

Submitted by suzanne williams
Question: 

Good Morning, I love the book, I really needed this in a time of my life and photography. I am currently working on the colour assignment. But my mind remains busy with the words of the assignment, look for bold colour, I seem to be attracted to subtle right now I am feeling spring as it is arriving and seeing pastels. I am enjoying and needed the list of don'ts it is the do's I am having a problem with because now I am "looking" for bold, and that is not the intent I don't think...I like to wait until colour finds me but right now it is pastel...should I continue with the exercise..am I keeping the words of the book too much in my head, am I too much in my head...life was simpler when I was not "looking" for something but then my photography was stale as well. Am I on the right track. Sincerely Suzanne

Answer: 

The key is to use the assignments to spark flashes of perception, not to restrict your seeing. If it's fresh, your on the right track. If it's just things you like, keep walking. This is something you need to experience for yourself. The assignments are set-ups to help you do that.

Suitable subject

Submitted by Photius
Question: 

Hi, I was wondering if a long exposure exposure of a highway at night is a suitable photo for the color assignment. As I crossed the bridge and noticed the "s" bend of the highway below I saw the red tail lights as a flash of colour. True I had to join up the individual tail lights into a continuous stream and used a tripod and a long exposure but surely that is just a means of Forming The Equivalent for the Flash of Perception I experienced? I'm very interested in your views on this. Thank you

Answer: 

That sounds like a genuine flash of perception. Really, the question is, was the equivalent related to the perception, or an idea you had about what you saw. Only you could say if the experience of seeing carried through to releasing the shutter.
 
That said, contemplative photography is not a religion, and you won't be condemed if you don't get it just right. The fact that the question came up for you means that you are examining your experince, and that's the key point.

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