Contemplative Photography

[taco2go]

So I'm finding myself browsing more of these types of galleries- but am finding there's also a lot of of nonsense in the whole "contemplative" genre

Any other suggestions or links from you more well rounded and learned picture takers?


Picked up a couple of books and am starting to revisit these guys' work:

Andy Karr

George DeWolfe

Miksang Institute


Disclaimer- I am not a Buddhist, or Dharmic or Shamanistic or Yogic- I'm just drawn to the simple beauty these guys seem to distill. They SEE stuff.

 

[AchillesBogart]

It all depends on the type of contemplating you want to do. Personally I like the "my mind is a spaceship" type of contemplation.

I thought George DeWolfe's work was good. He uses a good mix of shadow, detail and color to take something we would just give a passing glance and draws our eye to it and makes us contemplate the subject. On the other hand though, most of the stuff I saw seemed set up to hang on a wall and to deliberately draw the eye to the center of the picture (which isn't a bad thing, especially if you can make a living doing it, and I wouldn't mind having some of his stuff on my wall). I can examine it and contemplate the intended subject of the picture, but the forceful direction precludes sitting and drifting to different parts of the picture or just off into space itself. I can tell when I'm on a good long distance contemplating picture, everything relaxes in my lower neck and upper shoulders and then next thing I know I've jumped a 1000 miles and I'm there.

Andy Karr's stuff just reminds me more of a serious version of this: http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=af11 (caution may be some NSFW language; definitely is if you go to any other part of the site). There were a few pictures I liked, but most everything felt like snapshots or that he was just bored around the house.

 

[taco2go]

:sombrero:
I think the 'photography as faith' bit does seem a bit overbearing, Karr actually has a book out on this subject, and there's a LOT of tibetan buddist philosophy in between some rather nice (snap) shots.

I definitely think there is value in their work for us padawans- but maybe I do need to add something to the 'ol pipe to contemplate better.:ylsmoke: