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    Little Book of Contemplative Photography: Seeing With Wonder, Respect And Humility
    Little Book of Contemplative Photography: Seeing With Wonder, Respect And Humility
    Little Book of Contemplative Photography: Seeing With Wonder, Respect And Humility
    Ebook102 pages55 minutes

    Little Book of Contemplative Photography: Seeing With Wonder, Respect And Humility

    By Howard Zehr

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    About this ebook

              Restorative justice pioneer Howard Zehr is also an accomplished photographer. He begins his latest book with a confession"I have written this book in part to encourage myself to slow down, to heighten my imagination, to renew myself while I gain a new view of the creation and the creator."           With this book, Zehr makes a gift to anyone who would like to couple photography with seeing and thinking more deeply. In each chapter he offers a Purpose, a Problem, and an Activity with a camera in order to "practice mindfulness."           You'll not need a fancy camera, but if you have one it won't hurt. Zehr's chapter-by-chapter exercises are aimed at heightening visual awareness and imaginationall while doing good and working for justice.           A title in The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGood Books
    Release dateMar 1, 2005
    ISBN9781680992472
    Little Book of Contemplative Photography: Seeing With Wonder, Respect And Humility
    Author

    Howard Zehr

    Howard Zehr is a distinguished professor of Restorative Justice at Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. He is the author of the bestselling The Little Book of Restorative Justice and Doing Life, among other titles.

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      Book preview

      Little Book of Contemplative Photography - Howard Zehr

      1.

      Getting Started

      Photography is not what’s important. It’s seeing. The camera, film, even pictures, are not important.

      — Algimantas Kezys²

      Why this Little Book?

      This is the age of photography. Daily we are bombarded—overwhelmed, really—with images. Slick advertisements, sensational news photos, dazzling entertainment that seems to recognize no boundaries, hidden cameras capturing our embarrassing moments: we often become cynical about the power of photography to do good.

      Yet when properly conceived and conducted, photography can accomplish much that is positive. Photos can, for example, reveal what is hidden; they can tell important stories, preserve memories, stimulate dialogue, introduce people to one another, help to build community. I have long been interested in all of these uses, but these are not what this book is about, or at least not directly.

      Rather, this is about how we might use the medium of photography to stimulate our imaginations, to develop our intuitive and aesthetic sensibilities, to gain new insights. It is an invitation to stop and look and be refreshed. In order to do this, it asks us to re-image how we envision and carry out photography.

      Although this is not a meditation book in the usual sense, it proposes an attitude toward photography that in Chapter 2 is characterized as contemplative. In doing so, it does suggest that photography can serve as a medium for reflection and meditation, perhaps as a form of prayer.

      This book is included in The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding series because seekers of justice and peace are often so committed to their cause that they take too little time to reflect and to appreciate the world around them. Such practitioners may also have cultivated their rational, analytic side to the neglect of equally important intuitive and visual ways of knowing. But the same can be said of most of us: by slowing down to reflect and meditate, by heightening our visual awareness and our imaginations, by cultivating receptivity and a more holistic way of knowing, we can renew ourselves while gaining new insights into ourselves, the creation, and the creator.

      This book is about photography as play, not as work.

      I must make a confession: I have written this book in part to encourage myself to do these very things more regularly. Although my main vocation has been in the justice arena, photography has been an essential part of my life for more than 30 years. In previous books and documentary or journalistic projects, I have used photography to try to pursue my justice concerns. Initially I was drawn to photography, I believe, because it was a counter to the linear, analytic ways of knowing that were drummed into me by higher education. Through photography I sought to develop more balance. And photography has indeed provided an opportunity to develop and express my aesthetic impulses.

      But I am driven by a need to produce some sort of end product. It is difficult for me to allow myself to simply enjoy and appreciate photography as a process. I have needed to be deliberate about approaching photography as a kind of meditative and spiritual discipline.

      I have used some of the ideas and exercises presented in this book in classes or workshops. However, by forcing myself to structure this as a book, I am also providing a framework and encouragement for my own ongoing spiritual discipline through the medium of photography.

      When I was younger, I often was frustrated in my attempts to be deliberate about meditation. Somehow the disciplines and approaches to which I was introduced simply didn’t seem to work for me. I assumed it was my fault, that there was something wrong with me, until I began to read about the correlation between personality types and meditative approaches.

      I learned that my entree to meditation often has to be visual. I have since worked with several spiritual directors who gave me assignments that drew upon visual ways of knowing and, through this, I found my way. Photography emerged as an avenue of refreshment and insight for me, and thus this book.

      About this book

      This book is intended for both the novice and the experienced photographer. It is designed to help us rethink the medium of photography and to use it to heighten our visual awareness and our imaginations. These exercises offer new insights into yourself and your world or, at minimum, provide a breather in the midst of a busy

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