Make Light Real

Neil April 9th, 2008

Tao 46

There is no greater calamity

Than not knowing what is enough.

There is no greater fault

Than desire for success.

Therefore,

Knowing that enough is enough

is always

Enough.

• Mind Like Water , Tao
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Neil April 2nd, 2008

Tao 12

The five colors blind the eye.

The five tones deafen the ear.

The five flavors dull the taste.

Racing and hunting maddens the mind.

Precious things lead one astray.

Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees.

He lets go of that and chooses this.

• Mind Like Water , Tao
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Neil March 2nd, 2008

I don’t really need to tell you that I don’t watch TV do I?

How about I challenge you to improve your seeing by escaping from the bombardment of your senses in front of the TV?

You see TV makes you a captive audience to 30 second intelligence aimed at motivating you to buy something or continue to be glued to the nonsense. Kill your TV and watch movies if you must, but kill your TV and play a seeing game!

Othello is a great option. In it, you must capture pieces by surrounding them with your color of chip. This game can challenge your mind to make strategy and predictive decisions, help you to see in B+W, and improve your pattern recognition skills. The game is pretty exciting and can go from win to loose in several moves. And as a strategy hint, win the corners!

Chinese checkers is probably my favorite board game. Maybe cause I hardly loose. Chinese checkers is unique in that it’s a positivist strategy game - no pieces die or are captured - it’s only who can get to the other side first. Chinese checkers will demand that you analyze a complex and changing system to make the most positive move within the current design. The game reflects the efficiency of nature and will help you see connections and act on them, this will transfer to your photographic and artistic endeavors.

I believe each of these games will improve your visual awareness, calm your mind, and give you some fun with your loved ones.

• Creativity , Mind Like Water , learning
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Neil February 20th, 2008

“One does not accumulate but eliminate.

It is not daily increase but daily decrease.

The height of cultivation

always runs to simplicity.”

- Bruce Lee

Train your body, and your mind will follow.

• Inspiration , Mind Like Water
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Neil January 31st, 2008

Tao 8

The highest good is like water.

Water gives life to the ten thousand things and does not strive.

It flows in places men reject and so is like the Tao.

• Mind Like Water , Motivation , On Art , Tao
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Neil October 27th, 2007

Here’s a lovely snippit from Pete Tong’s BBC Radio 1 show - the track is Mark Brown - The Journey Continues Dub Mix which was finally released on Amazon! I heard it on the drive back from NYC’s Photo+ on Julie’s Sirius satelite radio.

Have you decided on the artist for your trigger? I’m also considering some tracks from LAGQ - The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet - on their Labryth album they cover everything from Led Zeppelin to Appalachian folk

• Mind Like Water , The Zone , audio/podcast
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Neil October 18th, 2007

What kind of music puts you in THE ZONE?

I find that the best type of music to edit photos to is something that has a strong rhythm, here’s one from KCRW’s Today’s Top Tune podcast. It seems that tunes where the melody carry both the rhythm and the tune strike a particular chord with my brain.

I haven’t yet chosen a song for my ZONE trigger, but I have a couple records that I’d pull from. The composer Yann Tiersen who’s music was featured in the film Amelie.

What are some great tunes you like for computer work or getting psyched?

• Inspiration , Mind Like Water , The Zone , audio/podcast
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Neil October 4th, 2007

Practicing a routine to build your ZONE mindset may take an hour a day for the first month. Take as long as you need to fully reach a state of heightened awareness. Build you’re minds acceptance and expectation of THE ZONE with each day’s successful routine, the deeper you internalize the routine the more potent it remains as it is condensed. Give yourself a month, as more time will deepen the connections in your psyche.

The really intriguing aspect of this is how Josh trained himself to trigger into THE ZONE within a single inhalation and exhalation. Shorten your routine slowly. You have been working to deepen your trigger, now you make it portable and lower maintenance. A great first step that would boost your general productivity would be to do your routine while going to work. Don’t go all out and cut down to 5min all at once - give yourself a few weeks just the same as you took to build your trigger.

For me personally this would mean having a 2min routine so that after finishing the hecktic family photos I could jump into my ZONE and access my inner vision while working with the bride and groom, just after I have exausted myself trying to meet the expectations of a diverse group of people. With some parts of the wedding, I don’t have a chance to think ahead or prepare myself with ideas I’m just dropped into a situation and I have to respond to everything - clearing my mind first will help me see the most important pictures.

To close this post I’d like to leave you with one more quote from Josh:

Once a simple inhalation can trigger a state of tremendous alertness, our moment-to-moment awareness becomes blissful…..We see more as we walk down the street.  The everyday becomes exquisitely beautiful.  The notion of boredome becomes alien and absurd as we naturally soak in the lovely subtleties of the “banal”.  All experiences become richly intertwined by our new vision, and then new connections begin to emerge.

And if we only encapsulate all that into our photographs…..

• Inspiration , Mind Like Water , The Zone , how to , learning
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Neil October 3rd, 2007

“The real power of incremental growth comes to ear when we truly are like water, steadily carving stone. We just keep on flowing when everything is on the line.” - from The Art of Learning

So while we know that THE ZONE exists, we can’t rely upon heavily charged, adreniline induced, or climactic moments to put us into a creatively charged state. Many competitive athletes have a routine that puts them into THE ZONE when it’s time for them to perform. We’ll call this routine, a trigger.

For some it’s a meditation or memory, for some a song, for some streching/activity will put them into THE ZONE. Does one particular activity come to mind for you? if not, read on and we’ll help you develop your trigger and then hone it for your use.

“So how do we step up when our moment studdenly arises? My answer is to redefine the question. Not only do we have to be good a waiting, we have to love it. Because waiting is not waiting, it is life. Too many of us live without fully engaging our minds, waiting for that moment when our real lives begin.“

Josh recommends searching for an activity or place that really helps you feel the sublime, restful, and focused. From there we can work backward to further reinforce a pattern of activities that will induce a calm but powerful state of focus. So the example routine whent like this:

1. Eat a light consistant (same food) snak
2. 15 minutes of meditation
3. 10 minutes of streching
4. 10 minutes of music
5. Activity or place of enjoyment, peace and complete presence

So continue this as a daily routine for 2-4 weeks to allow a strong psychological connection to build between the pattern and THE ZONE.

Continue for tomorrow’s post to see how to shorten the routine to jump start your Zone mindset.

• Mind Like Water , The Zone , how to , learning
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Neil October 1st, 2007

“Those who excel are those who maximize each moment’s creative potential — for these masters of living, presence to the day-to-day learning process is akin to that purity of focus others dream of achieving in rare climactic moments when everything is on the line.”

What a better description could a wedding photojournalist look for to describe his job. I am sent to an important day in the life of a person to show each moment’s creative potential and connection to the love, support and encouragement they have recieved their whole life. The moment’s are not the limit, as I have thought before — but as I see more clearly — the limit is within my ability to connect each moment to the Tao. Joshua Waitzkin writes of his search for a way into THE ZONE of awareness and conectedness as overcoming his own personal strength. In his Chess competitions or his early martial art’s competitions he relied upon his deep well of personal energy and ability to intensely focus. Drawing solely upon these skills, he could win - but only once. He would be so wiped out from the complete exertion that he couldn’t recover or continue.

My personal parallel in the visual arts is the germ of an idea that I often go into a shoot with. The idea gives me a creative burst to accomplish something, guide something or make something. But I risk being ruined by my creativity if my plans are disrupted, or I am not able to meet my expectations (imagination). I am also limited by my imagination, instead of opening to possibility.

“…perhaps even more critical in solitary pursuits such as writing, painting, scholarly thinking, or learning. In the absense of continual external reinforcement, we must be our own monitor, and quality of presence is often the best gauge. We cannot expect to touch excellence if “going through the motions” is the norm of our lives. On the other hand, if deep, fluid presence becomes second nature, the life, art and learning take on a richness that will continually surprise and delight. Those who excel are those who maximize each moment’s creative potential–for these masters of living, presence to the day-to-day learning process is akin to that purity of focus others dream of achieving…”

Don’t just be a dreamer

Read on this week as we follow Josh’s path to create a reliable path to THE ZONE

• Inspiration , Mind Like Water , On Art , Philosophy , Quotes , The Zone , learning
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