For the last several years I have been exploring forms of contemplative and abstract photography that emphasize true seeing. This type of photography focuses not on the technical aspects of photography or on the subject matter but rather on seeing clearly and accurately, and making images based on those distinctive perceptions. Contemplative photography also encompasses work known as Miksang photography (the ‘good eye’ in the Tibetan language) and as Visio Divina (seeing divinity in Latin). The images are sometimes easily recognizable images rendered to emphasize an attribute such as color or line, or images rendered to emphasize an abstract quality. These forms of photography invite viewers to see the mundane in daily
encounters in a new way. I first began exploring photography in high school and have continued studying and pursuing this
medium over the years. For the last several years, I have focused on merging these explorations with my contemplative practice and through the camera and lens have been examining beauty and surprise in the everyday.
I am continually inspired by the John Moffitt poem, “To Look at Any Thing”:
“To look at any thing,
If you would know that thing,
You must look at it long:
To look at this green and say,
“I have seen spring in these
Woods,” will not do – you must
Be the thing you see:
You must be the dark snakes of
Stems and ferny plumes of leaves,
You must enter in
To the small silences between
The leaves,
You must take your time
And touch the very peace
They issue from.”
Jennifer Davis Carey, photographer