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Discover your voice, cultivate mindful awareness, and inspire creative growth with photography

In The Mindful Photographer, teacher, author, and photographer David Ulrich follows up on the success of his previous book, Zen Camera, by offering photographers, smartphone camera users, and other cultural creatives 55 short (1-5 pages) essays on topics related to photography, mindfulness, personal growth, creativity, and cultivating personal and social awareness. Whether you’re seeking to become a better photographer, find your voice, enhance your ability to “see” the world around you, realize your full potential, or refine your personal expression, The Mindful Photographer can help you. You will learn to:

    • Awaken your creative spirit
    • Find joy and fulfillment with a camera
    • Improve your photography
    • Express your deepest vision of the world
    • Learn to be more present in the moment
    • Deepen your capacity for observation
    • Gain insight into your self and others
    • Cultivate mindful seeing
    • Use your camera as a tool for change
    • Enhance your visual literacy
    • And much more

You can read this beautiful, richly illustrated book in order, following its inherent structure, or you can dive into the book anywhere that appeals to you, following your own stream of interest. No matter how you read and work through the book—many of the essays contain exercises, working practices, and quotes from well-known photographers—you will learn to deepen your engagement with the world and discover a rich source of creativity within you through the act of taking pictures.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Seek Resonance
Camera Practice
Avoid the Merely Pictorial
Pictures are Not About Pictures
Visual Learning
First Sight; Beginner’s Eye
The Camera in Your Hand
Seeing from the Body
It’s All About Hormones
Attention and Distraction
Keep the French Fries
Becoming Good
Audience
Fitting into the Flow of Time
Catch the Wave, Not the Ripple
Of Time and Light
In Space
Finding Your Mojo
River of Consciousness
Why Selfies?
When to Put the Camera Down
Mindful Sight
Creative Time
Minding the Darkness
Potency of Metaphor
Mapping the Internal Terrain
What Helps?
Analyzing Your Images
Sift, Edit, and Refine
Sequencing
Experiment
Become the Camera
Music of the Spheres
InSeeing
Fifty/Fifty
Creative Mind and Not Knowing
Trust Your Process
Digital Life
Steal Like an Artist
Art is a Lie that Tells the Truth
Use Irony Sparingly
Embrace Paradox
When to be Tender, When to Snarl, When to Shout, and When to Whisper
Sharpness is a Bourgeois Concept
Learn to Love the Questions
The Wisdom of Chance
Awake in the World
The Cruel Radiance of What Is
Hope and Despair
Companions on the Way
Coherence and Presence
Wholeness and Order
Creative Intensity
Sea of Images
The Power of Art

Table of Contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright
  3. Contents
  4. Introduction
  5. Seek Resonance
  6. Camera Practice
  7. Avoid the Merely Pictorial
  8. Pictures Are Not About Pictures
  9. Visual Learning
  10. First Sight, Beginner’s Eye
  11. The Camera in Your Hand
  12. Seeing from the Body
  13. It’s All About Hormones
  14. Attention and Distraction
  15. Keep the French Fries
  16. Becoming Good; Becoming Whole
  17. Audience
  18. Fitting into the Flow of Time
  19. Catch the Wave, Not the Ripple
  20. Of Time and Light
  21. In Space
  22. Finding Your Mojo
  23. River of Consciousness, Stream of Images
  24. Why Selfies?
  25. When to Put the Camera Down
  26. Mindful Sight
  27. Creative Time
  28. Minding the Darkness
  29. The Potency of Metaphor
  30. Mapping the Internal Terrain
  31. What Helps?
  32. Analyzing Your Images
  33. Sift, Edit, and Refine
  34. Sequencing
  35. Experiment
  36. Become the Camera
  37. Music of the Spheres
  38. The Art of Inseeing
  39. Fifty/Fifty
  40. Creative Mind and Not Knowing
  41. Trust Your Process
  42. Digital Life
  43. Steal Like an Artist
  44. Art Is a Lie That Tells the Truth
  45. Use Irony Sparingly
  46. Embrace Paradox
  47. Know When to Be Tender, When to Snarl, When to Shout, and When to Whisper
  48. “Sharpness is a Bourgeois Concept”
  49. Learn to Love the Questions
  50. The Wisdom of Chance
  51. Awake in the World
  52. The Cruel Radiance of What Is
  53. Hope and Despair
  54. Companions on the Way
  55. Coherence and Presence
  56. Wholeness and Order
  57. Creative Intensity
  58. Sea of Images
  59. The Power of Art
  60. Acknowledgments
  61. About the author
  62. Photo Credits
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