Mind like water: Tao 33
TAO - 33
Knowing others is intelligent.
Knowing yourself is enlightened.
Conquering others takes force.
Conquering yourself is true strength.
Knowing what is enough is wealth.
Forging ahead shows inner resolve.
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Archive for the 'Quotes' Category
The Myth of Talent
Craig M. Tanner has a nice PDF download of an article titled “The Myth of Talent” available at The Radiant Vista
We need this presence because the truth about talent is this – talent is a set of skills you develop over time through desire.
Craig has gone over a few bumps in his photographic education:
And there waiting for me in Atlanta, mailed from the Kodachrome processing plant, was
a national monument sized stack of little cardboard, slide filled boxes with all of the
photography from my trip…… And when you look up the word disappointment in the
dictionary there ought to be at least one picture of me going through each box, slide by
slide, desperately looking for, but never seeing – not even once – anything on film that
even remotely approached the awe inspiring beauty of my experience. At the time it was
the most devastating let down of my life. I had never felt so foolish. The written journal I
kept was a better record of what I saw than my photography.The truth about the images from my trip in 1988 is that not one image from that body of
work has ever been included in any of my portfolios.
Read his full article to see how he bounced back creatively and professionally. It’s worth it to get to page six and take action on his “Seven Ways to Create Your Own Space for Artistic Growth”
1) Breathe - Fear needs a timeline to exist. When we are afraid we are worried about our
past actions or possible future outcomes. Worrying about time we do not control robs us
of the power we have in the present to transform ourselves. When the fear of being a
beginner (or any other fear creeps into our minds) we can respond by simply paying
attention to our breathing. Just a few seconds of observing our breathing can dissolve our
fears by bringing us back to now and to the presence we need to be the artist we desire to
become.
Craig’s recommended reading is very good:
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
The Work by Byron Katie
Art and Fear by Ted Orland and David Bayles
The Artist Way by Julia Cameron *I’m working on it now and highly recommend it!*
Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovitch
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Marc Hauser interview and video
I also found this little DVD by Marc titled “Bold and Simple: The Light of Marc Hauser” might be interesting, might be fluff - anyone who’s seen it can leave their comments or review in the comments.
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Maximize each moment’s creative potential - find THE ZONE
“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.
Don’t just be a dreamer
Read on this week as we follow Josh’s path to create a reliable path to THE ZONE
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- Inspiration , Mind Like Water , On Art , Philosophy , Quotes , The Zone , learning
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Artificial Barriers to interconnectedness
“Truth be told, this is what my entire approach to learning is based on–breaking down the artificial bariers between our diverse life experiences so all moments become enriched by a sense of interconnectedness.”
The search for interconnectedness in my pursuit equals the filling of an image with ‘art’ and not just ‘record’.
“For one thing, now that your conscious mind is free to take little breaks, you’ll be delighted by the surges of creativity that will emerge out of your unconscious. You’ll become more attuned to your intuition and will slowly become more and more true to yourself stylistically.” (p184)
So many discussions I’ve read on how to become a successful artist center around the need for self-styling, a truism to a personal core of expression. But the discussions end there, superficially to my questioning mind, and so Josh Waitzkin rings true to his universal claim. But I’m still left questioning who I am as, the only universal element to my work is that of exploration of the world.
What is the personal trait that you identify as core in your work?
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- Inspiration , On Art , Quotes , The Zone , learning
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Beyond our own Ego: Lenswork Podcast
Buy a subscription to Lenswork Extended for a full meal of multimedia creative input and focus.
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Go see Digital Photography Edge
Here’s a little wisdom from Bruce Dorn:
When we look for great available light, we look for the magic and unexpected combination of Quality and Direction. Those who choose to add supplemental lighting are held to those same standards and that’s just fine. I truly believe that the guy or gal who does hassle with lighting is also gaining knowledge of available light at a deeper level. Mother Nature is very reliable but she is also also full of enchanting surprises. It’s our pleasant task to mimic her most endearing traits. To mimic something begins with observation and understanding
What do you like best about those rare and magical available light encounters? Analyze and identify those traits, figure out how to most quickly mimic them, and you’re soon on your way to producing many more keepers….
Maybe we have a new term: Available Magic!
I’ve always tried to light like a movie director, and since Bruce is one seem’s like his wisdom’s close to my imagination. He’s doing a tour across the country and it’d definately worth your time to stop in and see him, check out his site for the dates.
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The Art of Learning….a reader’s journal
I was listening to NPR (as I often do) and heard an interesting interview about learning, skill and quality. So I bought the book, and you can too if you’d like to read along with me over the next few weeks. Its funny, but Robert Pirsig was given a cover quote and so I figured it was worth a read, and I’m feeling a little dry right now…too much internet…gives you too short an attention span.
Today’s Quote:
Two questions arise. First, what is the difference that allows some to fit into that narrow window to the top? And second, what is the point? If ambition spells probable disappointment, why pursue excellence? In my opinion, the answer to both questions lies in a well-thought-out approach that inspires resilience, the ability to make connections between diverse pursuits, and day-to-day enjoyment of the process. The vast majority of motivated people, young and old, make terrible mistakes in their approach to learning.
The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin.
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Philosophy of a Monk turned taylor
Together, these two themes became a central focal point in my life, and together they defined how I came to see quality. To wit: Truth is of prime importance in my life. And that what is true, manifests a definite expression of beauty. And I’m sure you’ll agree with me that something beautiful speaks its own truth. So this is how I see my work: It must be true, that is to say, it must be exactly what it is said to be: really bespoke, really handmade. The price must be true as well: I could ask a whole lot more for it, but that wouldn’t be very honest: Profit: yes, amassment: No. Simple.
I’ve been thinking about my work, and what’s important a lot lately and have had to re-arrange some things around here. There have been quite a lot of questions, and this little statement by Martin Stall seems to sum things up nicely. (The link has his whole story.)
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Myself, the thing itself and getting beyond them
–Somewhere slightly west of Alaska on the way to Tokyo —
Quoting from Bob Krist’s Spirit of Place “Unfortunately this emphasis on me is rampant in photography today.” p12 “If the images are not rooted in ‘the thing itself,’ to use Edwards Weston’s term, then the photographer has not learned anything about the real world. He can only justify the images by reference to self: ‘This is how I felt.’ …there can never be any objective bookmarks against which to measure the success or failure of these images. The results are often banal, superficial images created and defended in the name of ‘personal vision’.”
It seems that Bob is being a bit cynical, but he’s right in the empirical sense. I regret however that it seems he’s a little behind the curve when it comes to what photography can be - or he’s just very true to journalistic ideals. I want to take my journalistic captures and bring them further, to beyond simple reality to where eternity and the moment can be transposed across each other. To make an image where place & time are stopped and universal meaning begin to show through.
I hope in some way going so far beyond home will help me get beyond myself.
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