Busy, Simply Busy

As I lumber through the reading/review-writing of The Practice of Contemplative Photography: Seeing the World with Fresh Eyes, (available now at Shambala) I am reminded to stop. To reflect. To re-notice this world of ours in all its beautiful detail. Early in the text we are reminded that:

“The possibilities of perception are limitless, and clear seeing is joyful.”

Such truths need to be sat with, to settle, to permeate one’s whole being. And that’s very much how the whole book flows, complete with photos, philosophy, exercises, and tips. I by no means ‘lumber’ because of the book, but because of my own busyness and my relationship to the philosophy of photography in its pages.

I have to admit, there are moments when I wonder where contemplative photography fits in my life. I seem much more concerned with the image, that wonderful quality of capturing the essence of a place or person for a moment in time. My photographic aesthetics don’t seem to overlap much with the authors’.

Hence the opportunity. To learn. To experience. To grow.

So this is a rain-check of sorts. A rain-check on a review that will come soon. With more photos (the above was taken by me at a diner in Missoula). For now I’m enjoying the nudge to grow and expand.

And I’m also -somewhat grudgingly- enjoying being way more busy than I ever would have expected back in Montana. Today I drive from Helena to Missoula, spend the night, then drive to Bozeman, spend two or three nights, then back to Missoula for two or three, and then back to Helena. All for the sake of seeing wonderful people that I haven’t seen in 6 months and might not see again for over a year.

I’m grounding myself after that – for a week. And then I’m off to Denver to see my sis, spending a week there, driving back to Helena, then to Missoula to give a talk/photo show, then again to Helena (and a likely self-imposed grounding again). But grounded only a few days, because in mid-April, I fly to London.

So life is busy.

But it’s also good.

And incredibly, wonderfully rich.

Busy, simply Busy