Excerpt 2

Barriers to Seeing

". . . I quickly forget about me. I stop thinking about what i'll do with the photographs, or about self-fulfillment, and lose myself in the sheer magic of rainbows in the grass; in the multicoloured prisms of back-lighted crystals. I am lost in a world of glittering lights and dancing colours. I experience myself in what I see, and the result is a tremendous exuberance which helps me make the best use of my camera, and which lasts long after . . . .

. . . As long as you are worried about whether or not you will be able to make good picutres, or are concerned about enjoying yourself, you are unlikely either to make the best photographs you can or to experience the joy of photography to the fullest. But when you let go, new conceptions arise from your direct experience of the subject matter, and new ideas and feelings will guide you as you make pictures.

Preoccupation with self is the greatest barrier to seeing, and the hardest one to break. . . . There always seems to be something standing in the way of real freedom. Frederick Franck in The Zen of Seeing calls this the "Me cramp": too much self-concern blocks direct experience of things outside yourself. Sometimes the only way to overcome the cramp is through practice. You cannot relax your m ind and body separately -- they are too much a part of each other. In order to get the tightness and tenseness out of your body, you have to empty your mind. . . . Relaxing is the act of stopping the mental winds, so your body [like a body of water] will be still."

pp. 9-10