Mindful Photography: The Four Stage Seeing Practice

Mindful Photography is the application of mindfulness to photography. Join Mindful Photography developer and exponent Lee Aspland, as he shares the Seeing Practice that is at the heart of becoming a Mindful Photographer

Mindful Photography is mindfulness applied to and developed through photography. It is a mindful practice and it offers the opportunity for you to develop your ability to be present in the moment, connected to your whole experience, expand your perspective and therefore enrich your photographs.

Mindful Photography provides you with the opportunity to use what you see as your anchor; in much the same way as when you meditate you use your breath as an anchor. When you are out creating photographs, the visual experience becomes your primary sensory concern. You can be sitting or walking, observing your surroundings. Every time you notice that your mind has wandered off - planning a shot, dreaming of a photographic possibility, worrying about your ability or even just thinking about later in the day - you come back to the visual experience.

The Four Stage Seeing Practice

Observing the visual is at the heart of the Four Stage Seeing Practice. This practice will act as your foundation for developing a mindful approach to photography and will develop your ability to see; to see everything that is in front of you. Perhaps that sounds too simple. How difficult can it be to see? I believe that the speed we now take photographs, in that desire of acquisition, restricts our ability to see what is really in front of us.

The Four Stage Seeing Practice is a kind of meditation. It is in essence mindfulness applied to photography. It is at the heart of being present with your visual experience and is the foundation of becoming a mindful photographer.

The application of mindfulness to photography has immediate outcomes. It connects you through the visual to the present moment. When you notice your busy mind, you can return to what you can see in front of you. This also has the potential to improve what you see and how you see. The practice of clearly seeing everything that is in front of you is something that you can learn and develop.

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