Lose yourself in the moment.

One of the things I love most about street photography is this feeling that I lose all consciousness of myself when out shooting on the streets. I no longer think of myself consciously as an entity– rather, I feel like my body melts into the streets and I become physically and spiritually embedded into the environment that I explore.
I lose consciousness of walking, of breathing, and even of holding my camera. I let my eyes wander– being fascinated by the people living their everyday lives on the streets, and their interactions. Whenever I see something I want to capture– I don’t hesitate. I fluidly approach my subject, and the camera almost takes the photo by itself. Of course I generally follow-up with a smile and a brief hello, and either continue to talk with them, or continue on my way.

One of the philosophies of Zen is that you should lose self-consciousness of yourself, and especially of your own ego. You don’t think of yourself as being great and the center of the world. Rather, you see yourself as something quite insignificant and just like a grain of sand in a desert.
When I am out shooting on the streets, the feeling of getting lost in the “flow” makes me feel much more comfortable shooting in the streets (and is often when I take my best photos). The second I become self-conscious, I find myself drawing too much attention to myself and my subjects can sense my hesitation and feel less comfortable.

Sea caves at Cape Flattery

Best place to travel in the world.

Real Beauty on My Memory card.

Well where did that week go to?  I spent the first half of the week in Dublin and the second half in Connemara and the Burren, hopefully some pictures to follow.  A couple of nights ago I sat down to continue with my edit of the files I took in Antrim a couple of weeks ago while running a Landscape workshop there.  This is Dunluce castle.  There are times when I know I have bagged something special and this evening was not one of them.  The light was fantastic but I really didn’t feel I had hit the nail on the head that evening.  This is not unusual for me.  There have been several occasions when I have come away frustrated that things had not worked out as expected only to find a real beauty on my memory card.  Happily this was one of those nights!
I spent hours putting together the newsletter this week and it goes out my mailing list on Monday.  I can honestly say that it is thought provoking and full of useful information on art, history, Ireland, the creative process and more.

Nature Speaks.

                                                         Sores Dogan Photography



Last week I received an email informing me that I was a finalist in an outdoor photography contest, and that they needed the high-resolution image file along with some other information.  Included in this, was the question: why is nature important?  Of course I know why nature is important to me, but I pondered the question further as I was driving up Haleakala to go backpacking overnight at Holua camp, inside the crater.  I was having this overnight getaway primarily for what nature offers me, peace and solitude.  As I made the couple hour drive to the trail head, I listened to Eckhart Tolle’s Stillness Speaks, and my thoughts went back to this question when Eckhart spoke about nature, as one of his topics.  Here are some of his thoughts, that resonated deeply with me:
NATURE
“We depend on nature for not only our physical survival, we also need nature to show us the way home, the way out of the prison of our own minds.  We got lost in doing, thinking, remembering, anticipating – lost in a maze of complexity and a world of problems.  We have forgotten what rocks, plants and animals still know.  We have forgotten how to be.  To be still.  To be ourselves.  To be where life is – here and now.
“Whenever you bring your attention to anything natural, anything that has come into existence without human intervention, you step out of the prison of conceptualized thinking and to some extent, participate in the state of connectedness with being in which everything natural still exists.  To bring your attention to a stone, a tree, or an animal does not mean to think about it, but simply to perceive it, to hold it in your awareness.  Something of its essence then transmits itself to you.  You can sense how still it is, and in doing so, the same stillness arises within you.  You sense how deeply it rests in being, completely at one with what it is, and where it is.  In realizing this, you too come to a place of rest deep within yourself.”

From Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle