Book of the Week: 'The Practice of Contemplative Photography'

"Technique is important only insofar as you must master it in order to communicate what you see... In any case, people think far too much about techniques and not enough about seeing."

—Henri Cartier-Bresson

The Practice of Contemplative Photography
by Andy Karr and Michael Wood
Shambhala Publications, 2011

Reviewed by Ken Tanaka

The model of most photography self-improvement books hasn’t substantially changed for nearly 40 years. They typically feature early chapters on basic photography principles (aperture, shutter speed, ISO, holding the camera still, etc.) followed by a series of chapters dispensing prescriptive, technique-oriented—and sometimes howlingly hackneyed—advice on how to take "good" pictures. The material tends to be oriented toward guiding the reader to make pictures that resemble the generally accepted aesthetic medians for the subject genres (i.e. landscape, babies, parties, etc.).

That’s fine. But such books offer little or no guidance to readers who want to explore the broader and far more rewarding challenge of seeing with a keener, more creative, and more personally incisive eye.

The Practice of Contemplative Photography pursues a very different path. Its authors, Andy Karr and Michael Wood, draw upon their mutual interest in Buddhist teachings to present an approach to photography that's exclusively oriented to "clear seeing," an important tenet in Buddhism. The concept of clear seeing can be described, at least in this context, as eliminating distractions and confusion to align your eye with your mind and emotions.

But wait! Lest you become turned-off at the impression that this is "What Would Buddha Shoot?", hang in there! Aside from brief background remarks in the preamble and epilogue, the subject of Buddhism is nowhere to be found. Karr and Wood devote nearly all of the material toward imparting a practical understanding of the three stages of their contemplative photographic practice philosophy: Flash of Perception, Visual Discernment, and Forming the Equivalent. The general idea is to learn to turn off the many obstructions to visual clarity that we all have. Obstructions such as cultural biases, adherence to clichés, and the desire to create slick images that will impress people. Such obstructions become filters that distort you perception and blind you to possibilities that don’t fit your preconceptions.

To that end many of the book's chapters are designed to guide the reader toward self-discovery of the technique's methods. The authors provide a brief description of a topic and then offer an exercise to channel the reader's exploration. A collection of images follow each chapter's exercise to illustrate the objective. This is a simple, but powerful, structure for leading readers through conceptual material that can really only be discovered rather than taught.

It's worth noting that the book would be worth its very modest price just as a photo book. Over half of its pages feature images, many of which represent some of the best of the genre that I've seen. (And most were created by the authors.) In fact I believe that the images and chapter titles alone provide quite a substantial portion of the book's instruction.

It's also noteworthy that discussion of basic camera technique is mercifully minimized to just a few pages in two chapters which deal with "Forming the Equivalents," the point in the process at which a camera is employed to record what you are experiencing. This is genuinely a book about seeing, in which the camera is a necessary but generic instrument much as a pencil would be in a book on writing.

Realistically, the techniques of contemplative photography outlined here by Karr and Woods will not stick to every reader. But I am confident speculating that the vast majority of readers who spend dedicated time with the book and some of its exercises will be rewarded, at a minimum, by being able to see many more possibilities with their photography. That's a goal that's certainly worth many times the book's price, wouldn’t you say?

Ken

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Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by JohnW: "I'm delighted to see this approach to photography is finally trickling into the mainstream. I had the pleasure of experiencing the first three courses in the series several years ago and my photography has never looked back. To say it changed my photography would be equivalent to saying water is wet.

"I ordered a copy of the book but have not received it yet so the following comment may be covered in the text.

"One of the major stumbling blocks I've seen in many photographers is the fear of being 'themself' photographically. The underlying belief seems to be that their images must conform to some established ideal—generally that of the 'great masters' or the perceived masters of whatever group, club etc. they may belong to. The approach in this book bypasses all that and gets to the basic essence of art—recognizing, owning and expressing your vision.

"What more could an artist ask for?"

Comments

[Steve Jacob]

Seems to be a theme emerging...

What can I say? Ommmmmm!

Seriously though, I shall give Ken's recommendation a look.

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Despite all that can be gained by teachers, mentors, and books that address what lies beyond the technical mastery, I still believe that the best teacher in art are the photographs of artists you admire.

Trying to reverse-engineer what's behind them, figuring out not just how but why, and finally, building a broader pictorial culture, are all steps that visual artists have constantly performed, but what's important about them is that they are significant, personally and culturally.

Methods are cultural choices masquerading as universals. Deciding to go "one step further" in photography means not just taking "better" pictures, but engaging with the culture that surrounds you, imitating it, arguing against it, praising it, or denying it, discarding what is of little interest to you and absorbing intensely what is fascinating.

Most people don't necessarily know where to start because the photographic visual culture is often reduced to a particular canon of Great Men. Is it possible that HCB is irrelevant to me, as a 21st century man from Québec? Perhaps. Maybe I don't want to engage with him, even though he's a so-called "master".

I have the same feeling for Zen philosophy: so much of it is Orientalism for the Nippon geeks, even though it may be of profund importance to Japanese people.

Going "one step further" in photography means asking yourself all kinds of question about the people with whom you live, or forgot that you live with, before you start shopping for another "method."

[olli]

I acquired this book recently and would endorse all that Ken says. It really is a breath of fresh air with some very inspiring photographs.

Paul Giguere interviewed Michael Wood about the philosophy advocated in the book in his Thoughts on Photography podcast a couple of years ago. It's at http://www.thoughtsonphotography.com/to_p_0054_michael_wood_miksang_photography

Mike perhaps as a new fundraiser you should start selling WWBS wristbands.

[Archer]

This sounds like "Miksang Photography." There is an exhibition of photographs from this school (there are workshops here in Boulder) in my local cafe. Much of it is very good, certainly the best work that I've seen in the cafe ;-).

[Harriet Rubin]

I have this book and find it a disappointment after Chapter 1. At the beginning, the authors set out their approach by reference to great photographs, and their interpretations are inspiring. However, in the remaining sixteen chapters, they use only photographs they have taken, and the repetitiveness of style and the banality of the images combined with self-obvious text makes for a boring and ultimately deflating book. My impression is that the authors simply did not want to pay for the rights to use more first class pictures. What we get is a placebo book. I wish readers demanded as much from photography how-tos as they demand from other camera gear.

[latent_image]

Sorry Ken, but for me the proof is in the pudding, and Karr and Wood's miksang photos taste to me mostly, well, like pudding. Pleasing pudding, but pudding.

[Dennis Allshouse]

Thanks for the thoughtful review. I'm on Shambhala's mailing list so I've seen this book announced, wasn't sure what to make of it.

[Daverpvb]

Mu.
http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Seeing-Drawing-Meditation/dp/0394719689

;-)

[Mike Shimwell]

First Sanskrit, now Buddhism...

Actually, only joking. Book is ordered, thanks Ken.

Mike

[ken ross]

Do the authors credit Minor White? He was publishing articles, organizing exhibits and teaching workshops and classes at RIT and MIT which reflected his interest in Zen philosophy and photographic practice.White passed away in 1976bd ( before digital}

[Kenneth Tanaka]

@ ken ross: Not White, but they seem to credit nearly everybody else in the first chapter. In fact the first chapter exclusively features classic, familiar images (Steigltz, Kertész, Strand, Weston, et.al.) to set the objective stage for the rest of the book.

@ latent image & Harriet Rubin: Bear in mind that the book is principally designed as a teaching medium, not as a photo book. The authors' use of primarily their own, and their associates', images was certainly essential to best illustrate their instructional goals in each chapter.

I never got the impression that the book's images are necessarily presented as destinations, although most certainly are excellent final products. Rather, they are presented as visual aids to illustrate the essence of concepts. How you apply the lessons of the book to your own photography is up to you.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

@ JohnW: Rest assured that the authors give that stumbling block several hard kicks, the first of which comes in the second chapter:

"Strangely enough, you don't need to learn how to be artistic. It is as natural as breathing and the beating of your heart. Nevertheless, natural artistry is often inaccessible because it is concealed by preoccupation or resentment."

The authors implore the reader to shake-off preconceptions and visual templates several more times in the book.

[Dan]

Worth mentioning in this discussion is Eugene Herrigel's Zen in the Art of Archery, which I actually found out about from TOP!

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2009/09/eugen-herrigel-and-the-subversiveness-of-the-bruces.html

[David H.]

"...Zen philosophy: so much of it is Orientalism for the Nippon geeks, even though it may be of profund importance to Japanese people."

Michel: No need to worry, Zen is about as irrelevant to most Japanese as it is to you. I took a course on Zen in university and still remember more about it than most Japanese I have ever met since first coming to Japan nearly 2 decades ago.

[Andrew Kirk]

Although I have yet to buy this book, I shall, because I so enjoyed Michael Wood's workshop (Miksang Photography) several years ago. It illuminated my photography and my visual experience. We are better photographers the more we see:
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/andrewkirk/vision.jpg

[Yuanchung Lee]

Ken's review makes it seem a worthwhile book, but the photo on the cover proves otherwise. Just awful, in all the ways the book itself denounces -- banal, hackneyed, falsely (un)clever, devoid of either meaning or emotion or content.

Im sure there are better pics in the book. But the cover dissuades me from ever confirming that. Sorry.

[Mike Johnston]

Yuanchung,
Probably (by which I mean virtually certainly) a bad litmus test. The last time an author got to pick his or her own cover was reportedly in 1815, and that was only because the author threatened to disembowel himself with a dagger.

Or maybe it was a dirk.

Anyway, until you have ironclad proof you are dealing with one of the rare exceptions, you can assume by default that the author of any given book hates the cover too.

Mike

[Ralph Eisenberg]

Thanks Ken for your informative review. This is a book that I'm going to order based on your observations.

[Terence Hogben]

Mike thanks for the Book Depositary link , great for us in faraway lands.

[Gordon R]

This is primarily a book about seeing and visual awareness. Once you are tuned in to the world around you, there are pictures everywhere, so you no longer need to go somewhere exotic to make a "good" picture!

This approach is highly recommended, and will shake up your visual perception. You can also learn this approach at most Shambala centers around the country. Just google "Miksang".

Once you've done this you'll no longer feel like making the same images everyone else is making.

[Ben]

Another in this genre worth mentioning here is The Zen of Creativity, by the late zen priest, John Daido Loori. Although his attention spans all elements of what creativity means to a Zen practitioner, his principles inevitably influence the practice of photography (he was, after all, a photographer, himself, among other distiguishing vocations and avocations).

[kirk]

Dammit, I get so exited when I read a good review like this one that I impulsively click thru and order the book immediately. I'm winnowing away my available budget for buying more technical crap.....

Seriously, I can hardly wait to sit with this book.

[Dennis Allshouse]

Indeed, John Loori studied with Minor White.

[lloyd]

http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Photography-Seeing-Beyond/dp/1580081940

A similar book which also does not give appropriate credit to Minor White.

[Guy Batey]

I have to say I found this simplistic and banal book to be a complete waste of time, space and money.

Anyone want my copy for the price of the postage?