Believing is Seeing

[Ray Harrison]

Josh,
I appreciate that there is a level of mindfulness and transcendence associated with capturing and displaying beautiful images, at least for some. I also appreciate that one of your day jobs is counseling and teaching meditation. Too, I understand you have a broad background in music and video and of course you will have absorbed and practiced still photography given the house you grew up in and certainly from your education.

While I didn't dislike the intent, I personally found your article, Believing is Seeing (part 1), lacked a center, lacked focus and was too meandering for my own tastes. I read through it several times, and in general I enjoy writing that challenges me. I also enjoy art that challenges me. That said, I personally didn't find the images flowed with the words. I found the words unapproachable and the images were left hanging. Please, no more about "observing the observer" or whatever the exact phrase was  .

Essay writing is very hard and takes a lot of work. You have to distill rambling thoughts into a few coherent ideas, and the ideas into the right words, not just long ones. I feel that you left it more at the "rambling thoughts" stage than I would have preferred. A dispassionate second set of eyes can be good.

On a positive note, I'm looking forward to seeing how you are going to take this site forward. I've enjoyed some of the recent articles so I have hope.

There are definitely nuggets in what you're writing, but the writing needs work. Unfortunately for you, you have to do that practicing in a very public space so we'll all be here to provide the feedback  .

Thanks,
Ray

[josh.reichmann]

It’s a difficult group of topics to express, for sure.
Inherently fraught with obtuse and complex ideas if handled honestly. I’ll continue to refine my approach .
Thanks
Josh

[KenTanaka]

The type of work that Josh describes in his article has come to be known as miksang.  A simple Google search for "miksang images" will turn up thousands of examples.  There are also several books available on the topic.  "Miksang" is a general contemplative philosophy derived from Buddhist teachings, I think.

Much of the core of Minor White's later teachings and works strongly paralleled a "miksang" philosophy.

[Ray Harrison]

The type of work that Josh describes in his article has come to be known as miksang.  A simple Google search for "miksang images" will turn up thousands of examples.  There are also several books available on the topic.  "Miksang" is a general contemplative philosophy derived from Buddhist teachings, I think.

Much of the core of Minor White's later teachings and works strongly paralleled a "miksang" philosophy.

Thank you for the insight! Context is always a great thing.

[josh.reichmann]

+1

[Ray Harrison]

It’s a difficult group of topics to express, for sure.
Inherently fraught with obtuse and complex ideas if handled honestly. I’ll continue to refine my approach .
Thanks
Josh

Thanks! I actually don't think the topic is too complex or the ideas too obtuse, but I think a focus on simplicity and clarity in delivery (as well as context) is always helpful. I appreciated the references from Ken Tanaka.

[vartkes]

I feel my image making practice is a meditation practice. So I resonate with what I am imagining to be the intent of this article; that emptying the mind of all extraneous thoughts an preoccupation, just concentrating on the task of visualizing the image at hand. However, I found it was difficult to follow the article's line of development. Good intent but execution could bear to be refined.