Seeing when you look

It's been said so often that it's probably a truism that once a person has a camera, all of a sudden everything they see is a photograph. With the lack of limits of a digital camera it's oh so easy to snap away without having to spend time on an image.
It was so different when 24 little exposures was all that was available - I can get 250 something on my 2GB card!! And some of them are even worth keeping! I don't know, but I think my 'hit rate' is much better with digital, or is it that I've learned to take risks and be creative?

I'm not sure of the process that happens when I've got my camera out, but something switches on and suddenly what I am looking at becomes something else. All colours and angles and textures...
I love this process - the little motifs, the scenes, that moment, that story, NOW that happens...now that's zen...

And for me it doesn't stop then either - going back home, downloading (like Christmas goodies!), then spending time pondering and considering and playing with that image to bring out what it can say. Often the end image says something completely different from what it communicated the moment I released the shutter.
The time spent doing this is totally meditative for me - no words, no rules, just appreciating tone, colour, texture and form.
That's seeing when you look.

Serenity and poise

I am not known for serenity and detachment - I think I'm one of the world's more reactive people! I like to BE in the moment and feel and express my emotions.
To touch another person with my passion -
To be fully present - involved

While I love the concept of zen and simplicity and maintaining eternal poise and serenity, I think I am more like a willow whip or bamboo or even silk, something that moves and bends and gets energised by things.

To remain detached must I think mean a loss of involvement somehow.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but even while I'm taking photographs, something of the moment must touch me - my emotions are engaged, my sense of who I am is heightened by recognising the element in that particular scene that touched something of me.

Blue sea

Mid-winter does not seem to stop some people from leaping without thought (well perhaps a little thought) deep into the ocean blue...
Despite the chill, the shortest day last week brought out a few who just could not pass up an opportunity to show (nearly) all and get in the water. I stayed safely on-shore, wrapped up warm, and shot a few photographs.

No matter what the weather the sea is a temperamental mistress, restless and merciless to those who don't respect her. I've never lived far from the sea - couldn't bear not to be able to get out to smell the brine (or the ozone), touch the sand, feel the endless variety of textures, and enjoy the changing patterns across the sand and water. Something rather peaceful despite the restlessness of the water and wind.

I don't know what it is about a beach, but even when the wind is blowing and the waves are crashing there is a peace and an insulation from 'the world' for me. Something about being involved in the energy and change that is constant and permanent...

Very zen.

Zen

Zen is a strange concept. For me it's more than 'simplicity' which seems to be what most europeans view it as, it's much more like being timeless/now/suspended...
Here are some photographs that feel zen-like for me.