My handwriting is so bad and so much slower than typing, that I decided to do my notes on the laptop in Word files from now on and just tape in the notebook. And I’m trying to be more positive today about this course and I really like the quote they start off with today:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
~T.S. Eliot (“Little Gidding”, 1943)
The title of this lesson, “Looking with New Eyes,” is sort of what I’ve always tried to do in my nature photography, seeing beauty in simplicity and all aspects of nature, which is why one of my photo folders for each month is labeled “Leaves and Nature Things,” revealing things I’ve seen with “new eyes.”
First was an audio recording: “Looking with New Eyes,” 14 minutes.
This was definitely better than yesterday’s monologue and more inspirational. As I think will be the pattern, she started out with a short story from Buddha and a student of his “really” seeing for the first time and then she expands on that or talks about it, with maybe quotations to illustrate the concept and she used one that I used in one of my photo books by Marcel Proust: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” That was in my book of landscapes titled A Voyage of Discovery, Having Eyes for Costa Rica Landscapes. And at this point, I just made the decision to move these class notes from MS Word & a paper notebook to a page on my website, so I can link to things like the above book! 😊
Our First Photography Assignment
She then suggests we go find an object in the house or outside in nature that you don’t normally think about, like a cup or a leaf. Then study it and photograph it from different angles, showing many different looks or concepts of it. Sound familiar?” That is me with my “leaves & Nature Things.” 🙂 And here’s 2 shot I made just for this class . . .
Recommended Photographer
Then she shares some photos of the ocean from different angles by Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. https://andanafoto.com/en/dt_gallery/hiroshi-sugimoto/ (The link to their website may not work if not a registered student.) So try one of his many websites: https://fraenkelgallery.com/portfolios/hiroshi-sugimoto-seascapes though I think I have better ocean photos in my gallery VISTAS, BEACHES, SUNRISES, SUNSETS Costa Rica with quite different looks on our two oceans: Caribbean and the mighty Pacific! In Costa Rica it is easy to be mindful of nature and its tranquility!
Today’s MUSIC VIDEO
Next (another pattern it appears) she has a music video for us to watch titled “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong and it is available on YouTube at:
And yes! I liked this video better than the first one! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Others of my Photo Books that particularly fit this SEEING Theme:
- Quoting Nature
- A Walk in the Rainforest
- El Encanto de las Hojas
- Sunrise Banana Azul
- Designed by Nature
- A Voyage of Discovery
Each book link has a FREE PREVIEW of all pages.
And her written summary at the end of this lesson . . .
What you heard today:
References to Keep Exploring with Calm and Curiosity
On this path of observation, image, and presence, certain voices have emerged—through art, philosophy, or psychology—that have reflected on what it means to look deeply, feel consciously, and live attentively.
Here are some of those names, along with links for further exploration if any of them resonate with you. This is not an exhaustive or academic list, but rather a map of references that accompany this practice.
Edmund Husserl and the Epoché
A German philosopher and founder of phenomenology. He introduced the concept of epoché, a suspension of judgment—a pause in our habitual way of thinking—that allows us to see things as they truly are, without labels or prior interpretations.
Read more on Wikipedia
The Sense of Sight – John Berger
Published in 1977, this book suggests that seeing comes before words, and that the way we look at the world is culturally conditioned. Berger invites us to reclaim a freer, more vivid gaze.
Book: The Sense of Sight
Marcel Proust
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
Through his meticulous and contemplative writing, Proust reminds us that the transformation of our gaze is the true inner change.
See books by Proust
¡Pura Vida!
RETURN to main page of Photography & Mindfulness OR to my Photographer page.