The rest of what follows isn't polished writing, by any means, but is more of a collection of notes written out in detail of different aspects of the week. Maybe there is something here that will spark an idea, a question, or a phrase to ponder that will lead to insight. So, here goes...
On looking and seeing:
Stopping to smell the roses (so to speak) is a practice that helps reduce impulsive labeling and categorizing of experience. It fosters clear seeing. Physically stopping, we can land in a moment fully and completely. It can be a sudden stop, or a more gradual one, but landing in right now right here and staying open to our experience, there is the possibility to see in a truly new way. It is like a deliberate short-circuit on our knee-jerk tendency to put every experience into a clearly defined box. Why is it that we see color and light and texture in one moment, and in the next moment, we say "hmm, no good. I don't like it." What's that about?
Children learn through play, so games are an essential part of teaching and learning an art form like photography. It could be any form of creative expression, though. Painting. Sculpture. Ceramics. Printmaking. Drawing. Writing. Giving your full attention to one thing at a time in a fun, open, inquisitive way is powerful and strengthens self-regulation, concentration, mood, and a sense of confidence.
Once a student has actually STOPPED with their eyes open, they see and are able to express what they see. Feet firmly planted on the ground. Aware of sensations in their bodies, hearing, smelling, feeling the air. If they know just enough of their tool or medium of expression, they can commit to expressing their experience, whether it is musical, tactile, visual, or olfactory. Or poetic.
In photography, know the camera. Know the focus. Zoom. Framing. Know when to press the shutter. Be really still. Pay attention. Take lots of photos. Look at your photos and ask with each one "did I photograph what stopped me?" The camera is pretty simple, and with a little practice, anyone can master the mechanical functions of the camera. What's often overlooked is learning how to look and to see. This can be more challenging, but it is also a lot of fun!
More on games:
At CityArts, I took an idea from a book called "Mindful Games," and incorporated it into teaching photography. This book is all about introducing mindfulness and meditation practices to children through games they can learn and apply that will help them to be less judgmental of their experience, more compassionate toward themselves and others, and better able to respond to situations with clarity and focus. If kids can learn to meditate through a game, why couldn't they learn Miksang as well? (I don't call it "Miksang" since that label would tend to distract from the experience.)
What is "Miksang?" Take a visit to these websites: www.miksang.com or www.seeingfresh.com.
Side note: I don't know of many adults practicing Miksang Contemplative Photography who have young kids, or who have tried to teach it to their kids,so there hasn't been much in the way of resources for me to draw on, although one of my mentors provided some encouragement and guidance early on in my Miksang training. Games are easier for children to connect with than serious "exercises" and "assignments" anyway, so it seems natural to introduce things in a fun, exploratory context.
Another side note: Miksang is tailored to adults who come with years and years of conceptual overlays about their perceptions and have to unlearn a lot of their photographic and artistic training to rediscover how to see with the simplicity a child. This does not mean acting childish with a camera, but rather, allowing oneself to notice, play with and photograph visual perceptions that would not normally register on most people's radar.
On the actual details of Spring Break:
I was reminded numerous times during Camp of the importance of using simple and clear concepts when working with children.
What is "Miksang?" Take a visit to these websites: www.miksang.com or www.seeingfresh.com.
Side note: I don't know of many adults practicing Miksang Contemplative Photography who have young kids, or who have tried to teach it to their kids,so there hasn't been much in the way of resources for me to draw on, although one of my mentors provided some encouragement and guidance early on in my Miksang training. Games are easier for children to connect with than serious "exercises" and "assignments" anyway, so it seems natural to introduce things in a fun, exploratory context.
Another side note: Miksang is tailored to adults who come with years and years of conceptual overlays about their perceptions and have to unlearn a lot of their photographic and artistic training to rediscover how to see with the simplicity a child. This does not mean acting childish with a camera, but rather, allowing oneself to notice, play with and photograph visual perceptions that would not normally register on most people's radar.
On the actual details of Spring Break:
I was reminded numerous times during Camp of the importance of using simple and clear concepts when working with children.
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| "What do you see?" An exploration of the difference between what we think we see and what our eyes are actually seeing, using a clear plastic water bottle as a subject. |
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| Photograph by a student during "Seeing Cat" game |
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| Students all stopped at the same time and photographed whatever they happened to be seeing in that moment. |
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| more from "Seeing Cat" |
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| Photographed during "texture walk" while looking at the surfaces of things, smooth, rough, fuzzy, shiny, etc. and stopping to photograph texture. |
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| This was my son's favorite photo which he had printed and framed, and sold for $3.00. |
A memorable challenge came on the last day of the camp, when two of the youngest students seemed confused about the activity the rest of the older students were engaged in. I had found a dozen or so games from online research as well as some I developed on my own. I'd written these on 3x5 cards that the students could choose from, and there was one in particular I had doubts about but decided to include it anyway. It involved using a word as a prompt, and then going out and looking for examples of that word, and photographing them. I thought the exercise would be too conceptual to lead to anything much. Even though I resisted using it, I decided to try it in this moment with these two students. One student, a bright-eyed girl about six years old, decided her word would be "and." ... I thought "wow, ok!" So, we began to look for examples of the word "and."
At first, the looking was very conceptual, not so experiential. I thought, how about high [and] low, or up [and] down? We began looking for things that were arranged in a vertical relationship to one another, with one above and one below. That wasn't so easy to SEE and kind of difficult to express in a photograph. Then, I remembered an exercise in Miksang where we looked at the visual difference between things that happened to be side by side, really noticing the difference between them VISUALLY and seeing them at the same time. One of the girls happened to be wearing a shoe with iridescent sparkles on it right next to a white rubber material for the sole. I pointed to the sparkles and said:
"look! What do you see?"
"Sparkles," she replied.
"Good! And what do you see here?" I pointed to the rubber sole.
"White."
"Yes! Sparkles AND white!"
She smiled.
"Can you make a photograph of sparkes AND white?" I held my camera out for her to use.
Here is her photograph:
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| Sparkles AND white! |
It was a rich and insight-filled Spring Break, and I wanted to at least record some of the ideas that emerged. I could write more, but I think I will end it here for now.
Best Wishes and please ask questions! Let me know if anything here resonates with your experience!
Cody
