The Way We See It: Zen

Showing posts with label Zen. Show all posts

Sunday, October 6, 2013

In Search of Simplicity

Leaf and Rock - Interstate State Park, WI
Canon 1D mark iii + Canon 100mm f2.8 USM Macro

It’s a funny thing how a style or pattern seems to creep into the subconscious of our art. I’m not certain if these things happen because of life’s circumstances, or in spite of world around us. Regardless of the cause, it appears that my photographs now seem to emphasize the simple over the complex.

To read the rest of the blog post, check out the blog at our new SquareSpace site at: Simplicity

See our new gallery at: btleventhal.com

Monday, November 19, 2012

Tip #99: Make the Connection

Jasper National Park - Canada
Canon 5D mkII + Canon 50mm f1.4

There are fleeting moments where time stops and the essence that is the photographer becomes one with the subject. These are ephemeral experiences, intense bursts of focus that I can only describe as Zen. It might seem a contradiction for this empiricist to describe an experience in nature that is something less than science, yet I find that Zen philosophy can inform my mind without imbuing a religious conviction.

Eddy - Canada
Canon 5D mkII + Canon 24mm TSE f3.5L

Slot - Canada
Canon 5D mkII + Canon 50mm f1.4

Id, the scientist... “life is a continuum that began with a single cell competing for limited resources, motivated by the programmed need to replicate. Competition inspired organic innovation that led to a branching tree of life that extends into every ecological niche. Selection is the mechanism, and chance events in the environment separate the winners from the losers. The evidence of this rich evolutionary history is written in molecules and preserved in stone.”

Nanny and Kidd (Oreamnos americanus) - Canada
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + 1.4x converter

Leading Lines (Oreamnos americanus) - Canada
Canon 40D + Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS

Zen, the artist... “Reality seems sterile and non-emotive. Art is a human pursuit, a mode of self-expression, and Zen helps me to explore my place in nature. I am the ripple in a pond, a wave in the ocean, a drop of rain cycling through the atmosphere; I am one, a part of the continuum.”

Reflecting Jasper - Canada
Canon 5D mkII + Canon 50mm f1.4

We are the Rock (Oreamnos americanus) - Canada
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + 1.4x converter

Schizophrenic in the literal sense, photography is a split of the mind; it is art and it is science. White light emanates from solar fusion, reflects off an earthly mass and photons are captured by a Silica wafer. Transformed into a binary code, this is the picture. In contrast, a careful search for leading lines, colored abstractions and tonal gradients shape our art. Lost in the moment, the photographer is one with the place and sees what others will not. Whatever your mind, accept that you are a part of the nature that you seek to capture, and you will make art from the science that is our reality.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Tip #92: Balance

The River - Stillwater, MN
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

Simpler to say than articulate the way,... strive to produce a balanced image. One individual’s interpretation of balance will likely differ from another and this difference often defines a style. When given the opportunity, I visit the same place many times throughout a year. I try to view it from above and squat to get low. I look at light and shadow and study the way these change throughout the day. This is how I begin to define balance in my images. Maturity follows experience, and balance is a characteristic of the mature.

Rock -kcoR
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

When seeking balance, consider the compositional elements in the frame and use these assets to lead your viewer into the picture. Tonal gradations, abrupt shifts in contrast and motion will also define your subject and convey a sense of balance. Balanced images suggest balance in nature and, to the optimist, balance in life.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Tip #82: Let Life Happen

Commute - Stillwater Township, MN
Canon 5D Mark II + Canon 24mm f3.5L T/S E

Ever visit a home with young kids? Filter out the exuberant noise emanating from k-3 mouths and simply watch their world through your photographer eyes. Pure spontaneity erupts because life is a game. Young ones wander between the present and future, they live at the nexus between the material and the imaginary. They are the keen observers among us and transform the mundane repetitions of life into something fresh and novel. A dog encounter that needs to be controlled by the adult world is a butt sniffing fest that explodes into a type of laughter that I have long forgone in my adult life. Slides are castles, kiddie pools are lakes and yards are far flung lands that beg to be conquered. This old photographer can learn lessons from the neophytes, ...they let life happen.

Commute #2 - Stillwater Township, MN
Canon 5D Mark II + Canon 24mm f3.5L T/S

These images are an exercise in risk and patience:

Risk, because I chose to stop, shoot and share. They are not from some rare exotic locale, nor do they expose the unfamiliar to the masses. In fact, these are pictures captured along my commute. I risk my credibility by sharing the mundane, yet each image is a moment in time where light and shadow seduced my eyes.
Patience, because I had to stop, stare and think before taking the risk. The photos were shot from tripod, in wet waste-high grass at a time when I was not prepared for the conditions. Patience required a thoughtful lens choice, the manipulation of tilts - shifts - focus, and the burden of a cable release and mirror lock-up.

These are simple images, but simplicity can transform a moment and force the wizened to cross a line from the material to the imaginary.

We all can learn lessons from the inexperienced among us. Neophytes have much to offer those who have stale eyes and forgotten about the beauty that can explode from the mundane... watch them play, they let life happen.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Tip #81: Find Your Zone

Reflective Practice - St. Croix River, MN
Canon 5D + Canon 24-105L f4.0IS

At the nexus between time and creativity is an ephemeral moment that I call “the zone.” This is a place worthy of discovery, an opportunity to become lost in the process. Here, the laws of physics are distorted as time slows and vision is refined. The zone is our Emerald City - unobtainium - it is a destination where pictures are transformed into images and craft becomes art. I live for these fleeting moments, a chance to lose myself in a landscape and forget that life exists beyond the photograph. Find the time to let go, and embrace those rare opportunities to make the magic happen.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Tip #78: You Are

Killdeer at Sunrise (Charadrius vociferus) - Stillwater, MN
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8IS L @ f3.2

There is nothing “New” about “New Age” philosophies. The view which suggests humans are natural beings, subject to the same forces that have shaped the planet, is central to the traditions of Zen Buddhism. Practiced since 6th century China, “Zen Philosophy,” is anything but new. To suggest that you are nature and nature is you, might seem heretical to those that endorse a Judeo-Christian world view; yet the Zen view that we are all connected to nature offers valuable insight to the nature photographer.

Consider the following from the the graphic text “Zen Speaks (by Tsai Chih Chung):”

A Baby fish asks an Elder fish, “I hear people talk about this thing called the sea. Just what is the sea?”

The Elder replies, “The sea is what surrounds you.”

The Baby thinks and exclaims with wide eyes, “But why can’t I see it?”

The Elder, with an air of authority explains, “The sea is within you and around you. You were born in the sea and will die in the sea. The sea envelops you, just like your own skin.”

Here Zen suggests that you - the person - are of this place, from this place and by this place. The same can be said for you, the nature photographer. We are all part of the planet, givers and takers and subject to the whims of natural processes. We are not voyeaurs, we are participants. Being one of us makes us one of them. This is my approach to wildlife and nature. I will not disrupt the life process of my subjects; I will not interfere with their survival. I see myself as a part of the world that I try to capture on my sensor, and I respect the place from which I was born.

Just a little something to think about when you’re hoping to capture some of life's magic.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Tip #37: Live the Moment

Red-Eye Tree Frog - Caribbean Slope, Costa Rica
Canon 5D Mark II + Canon 180mm MacroL

What follows is a retelling of the Zen view of Past - Present - Future...

Strolling through a bamboo forest, a zen monk is consumed by the beauty and harmony in nature. He banks left through a narrow wood and sees a tiger in the distance. Fearful of his fate, the monk begins to run. Instinct, adrenaline and hunger makes the tiger give chase. The tiger bounds through the forest with ease and begins to approach the monk who now labors with every step.

Fleeing with all of his speed, the monk discovers that it is all about to end. You see, the forest terminates at a cliff.

Giving little thought to the ramifications of his actions, the monk hurls himself over the edge. As gravity pulls him down he spots a tree snag emerging from a rocky shelf. Reaching out, the monk catches the snag and rejoices in his good fortune.

The tiger, frustrated, now sniffs at the monk from above, while the monk ponders a way to descend the remaining 15 feet. Looking down, the monk now observes that another tiger has arrived and waits from below.

Thinking he will wait them out, the monk secures his body to the branch that now hangs precariously between the two hungry tigers. It is at this point that two mice scurry out of a crevice in the mountain and begin to gnaw away at the branch.

From the corner of his eye, the monk spots a ripe, red, and luscious strawberry growing on a nearby vine. He Grasps a the tendrils of the plant in one hand, and plucks the strawberry with the other. Tossing the ripe fruit into his mouth, the monk thinks to himself.... delicious.

Zen teaches us that we can’t run from our past nor fear our future, rather, we must embrace and savor the now.

The way I see it, photography is about the experience. We need to learn how to silence the peripheral noise that clutters our minds, unlock the shackles of our past, and worry less about the future. Grab a camera, find some light, and live the moment.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Tip #24: Follow the Path

Between Light and Dark - Tamarack Nature Center, MN
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

“At the foundation of everything is Nature” Lao Tzu

Dao or Tao (道) is the Chinese word for the way, path or route. It is a philosophical doctrine that attempts to explain the underlying order of the universe in what might appear to be a contradiction... being and nothingness. I will not pretend to be an expert or even knowledgeable about the ‘Way,’ however I can’t help but admire a philosophical objective that attempts to bring practitioners closer to Nature. Becoming “one with the tao” is to seek balance and harmony with the natural order of things.

One Leaf - Tamarack Nature Center, MN
Canon 5D markII + Zeiss ZE 35mm f2.0 @ f16

Tao of Photography, by Tom Ang has influenced my work more than any other book about photography. This is not a text about nature, equipment or exposure theory, it is a discussion about seeing and feeling. With its focus on “less is more” and the value of “the journey,” readings and images from this book continue to impact my vision today.

“Treat the large as small and the few as many.” Lao Tzu