There are some places you visit that always make you feel like you are home. The Buddhist Retreat Center in Ixopo, South Africa is one of these places for me, and I am excited that I will be teaching a workshop at the Center entitled "Seeing with Quiet Eyes: Photography as Meditation" the weekend of 30th March, 2012. In addition to beautiful scenery and mindful spaces, the vegetarian food served at the retreat center is food for the soul (check out their cookbook called "Quiet Food").
Fire, Water, Earth and Air surround us every day in many forms, but we generally pass them by. Consider water, a necessity of life - it can be flowing, it can be still, it can be found in dew, it can reflect the surroundings. It can show itself to us in many different forms.
Catherine Anderson, author of The Creative Photographer will be facilitating a photography retreat entitled "Focusing on the Elements" in Black Mountain, NC the weekend of 30th September to2nd October , 2011. The retreat is open to all photographers, both experienced and inexperienced with any kind of camera.
In this weekend retreat we will get to know these elements more fully as we learn to photograph them in their different shapes. Each element has its own character recording them in many different ways allows us to get to know our camera in a practical way. Through instruction and exercises Catherine will guide you in befriending your camera as you learn new techniques to record the beauty of the elements that surround us.
One of the projects in The Creative Photographer is making a deck of Gratitude Cards with the photographs you create. There are so many different ways you can do this and I suggest you print out playing-card size images which you glue onto the front of playing cards to create a Deck of Gratitude Cards. You can also collect your 4x6 size photographs in a box. Another way is a visual gratitude journal. What a wonderful legacy this could be for your family.
Here is the Scavenger Hunt exercise that I have added to the back of the bookmark created for "The Creative Photographer". This exercise will sharpen your ability to see and make you a more observant photographer. Try it and feel free to post links to your website or blog sharing the results. This is a great weekend activity with friends.
"In the act of deeply seeing, we transcend the boundaries between the self and the otherness of the world, momentarily merging with the thing seen."
Alex Grey
Taking photographs allows us to commune with beauty and translate this deep seeing into images that express not only how we see the world, but how the world makes us feel. When we slow down and enter our own silence we are able to connect with the essence of things. Cultivating awareness and mindfulness encourages us to see with the eyes of our heart.
Catherine Anderson, author of "The Creative Photographer" will be facilitating a photography retreat entitled "Drawing with Light: Photography as a Spiritual Practice" in Black Mountain, NC the weekend of May 20th to 22nd, 2011. The retreat is open to all photographers, both experienced and inexperienced with any kind of camera. Catherine will also, for those that need the instruction, show you how to use your camera more effectively. The workshop focuses on guiding you to find your unique visual voice through the lens of your camera. Through exercises and time in beautiful natural surroundings Catherine will guide you as you deepen your ability to use your camera as an extension of your eyes and your heart.
