Life Seeking Life
(This is a series of posts on Jan Phillips’ book, God is at Eye Level, Photography as a Healing Art.
For an intro check out the first post here.)
It’s been a whirlwind these last couple of weeks with girlfriends visiting and a road trip to Vermont! Time to get back on track with a chapter review from Jan Phillips’ book. If you’re new to this series, see below to catch up!
Directly under the chapter title Life Seeking Life is the first quote by Gretel Erlich… To see and know a place is a contemplative act. It means emptying our minds and letting what is there in all its multiplicity and endless variety come in. Wow, my mind immediately went to last week’s visit to the 9-11 memorial. This was my second visit and was just as emotional as the first. How can one not think about the sheer horror of that day as you approach the waterfalls and reflection pools where the towers once stood. The surrounding atmosphere was quiet, serene, orderly and mindful. This was exactly what Erlich and Phillips talks about in this chapter…letting what is there in, at that very moment. Feeling the moment, not just seeing. And as a photographer it made me realize this is exactly what my goal should be each and every time my finger pushes the shutter release of my camera. It all came together for me.
As I headed to the far corner of the memorial to get an overall view of the area, a comment from a photography class instructor came to mind. Show me something I haven’t seen before… While I appreciate what he meant, it was while reading this chapter that I was reminded once again why I’m taking photos. She writes about listening to those voices who say they are authorities, who say it must be done this way or that way. And if we aren’t careful, we’ll start to believe them. So I needed this smack upside the head to remind me as Jan so well articulates…The real thing about photography is that it brings you home to yourself, connects you to those things that fulfill your deepest longings. When we come to photography fully alive, and in the act of photographing, connect with the life force of what is before us, our images contain some of that vitality. Even reading and typing these words makes me have goose bumps when my thoughts return to the memorial. Yes, these photos are just like so many others that you will see of the 9-11 memorial, but they are mine and they reflect what I felt at that moment. Thanks Jan for that reminder, and this chapter couldn’t have come at a better time.
Next up: Chapter Ten – God is at Eye Level
Joining in for the very first time? Catch up on the previous chapters!
Chapter One – Through the Eyes of a Child
Chapter Two – Seeing Our Way Clear
Chapter Three – Shifting the Focus
Chapter Four – Looking Like No Other
Chapter Five – Portrait of a Soul
Chapter Six – Speaking our Peace
The thing is….I can see a hundred photos of a famous landmark but I want to see it with my own eyes and take my own picture of it, even if it looks like everyone else’s. And now I know why: because it’s MY picture and it’s how I felt while taking it. THANK YOU for that, Robin. I knew it made sense but just didn’t know why.
Very nice, Robin and very well stated, Ginnie. 😉
Glad you got a little smack upside the head. 🙂 Very moving and powerful.
Deep thinking – adds a new dmiensoin to it all.