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Through her online Seeing Drala course, Julie Einstein invites students to open up to the world around them and notice the beauty and magic that they might ordinarily overlook. Julie was kind enough to answer some questions about contemplative photography, otherwise known as miksang, her own practice, and her teaching.  

What is contemplative photography and how does it differ from other ways of photographing the world around us?

Contemplative photography is appreciation of the moment a photograph is taken, the actual process of seeing, tuning into our perceptions and the magic or ‘drala’ that exists in our world.  There is no post processing or editing of images.    Process…not product….  Yes, there are quite often beautiful images to share with others but this is secondary to the actual moment we made a connection with the world.

I think that most of us need to use a camera as a reminder to start noticing the world around us. If our camera is with us then we will remember to use it!  Obviously all of us are always looking and seeing as we go about our day but are we actually connecting, touching in, opening to the world or are we in our head thinking about what needs to be done, what we should have done, etc.

When we are thinking too much there is a lot that we don’t see.  We are somewhat blinded to our surroundings.  So the camera is used as a vehicle to help us remember to see.  To capture a moment that stopped us – that flash of perception.   After a while we don’t need to reach for our camera any longer as we are deeply satisfied with the connection we have made when we notice the magnificent maple tree shadow against the fence, or the bold red color of a woman’s hat or even the morning dew on a car door handle.  The most simple and yet profound beauty that often goes unnoticed is now appreciated.  This is ordinary magic.

When practicing taking photos in this way, what’s the relationship between the role of intention versus the role of thought?

Unless we are on a particular assignment (shooting color, light, etc) there really isn’t any intention other than slowing down enough to allow the world to present itself to us.  It’s there all of the time … just waiting to be noticed.  Once something stops us in our tracks, when we have that Flash of Perception, we do our best to form the equivalent of whatever it was that stopped us.  We are trying to move away from thinking mind in contemplative photography because thinking gets tricky and thinking gets in the way of seeing clearly.  Once we start to think about what to photograph and how we want to photograph we begin to move away from the purity of the moment.  We might even begin to ‘add’ things to our photograph – something that we didn’t even see in the first place.

Part of the practice is learning to recognize when we are thinking too much and sometimes that means letting go and moving on.  For the most part we don’t use the composition rules that are taught in most photography courses since our goal, if I dare use this word, isn’t to create the ‘perfect’ image.  We simply want to share our perceptions with others.

When teaching about shooting images of texture, you make a distinction between our mental understanding of what texture is versus our being able to actually see the texture through the way light and shadow work in the image. For example, in an image of pavement that’s not well-lit, we might understand in our mind that there’s texture there but not be able to see all the bumps and hollows of the asphalt itself. Are there other ways our pre-conceptions or thoughts commonly assert themselves in this practice?

Great question!!  Absolutely.  We have so many ideas and concepts about the way things should be, the way photographs should look, how to make them look better, what will people like, what do I like, is it pretty or is it ugly, is it interesting or is it boring, is it worth photographing or not, I like the color red more than the color blue.  The list goes on and on and on.

More importantly this mental dialogue takes place all the time and interferes with the way we perceive everything that takes place on a daily basis (not just what we see).  She’s nice, he isn’t.  The smell of coffee reminds me of that time I was in Paris.  I hate frozen pizza because I ate it a lot as a kid.  We see and experience the world through these filters but the absolute good news is that this can change.  We have the ability to reframe how we see and how we experience our world which I find completely fascinating.

A good book to read on this is Letters to Vanessa by Jeremy Hayward.  I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about perception and how we perceive the world.  He makes reference to an Enchanted World and a Dead World.  The Enchanted World is the world in which we lived when we were children, clear and free of any filters.  Exciting and enchanting.  The Dead World is the world that we soak up unconsciously when we were growing up.

You quote John McQuade as saying, “Stop the mind by stopping the eye.” This sentence itself is quite arresting. Could you expand on it for us?

I like your use of the word ‘arresting’….Most of us are arrested by our mind. It’s what our mind does.  It thinks.  That’s its job.  However, we can have moments of clarity.  Moments of clear seeing.  When we stop our eye, we stop our mind.  The thinking stops.  A gap occurs.  This gap allows us the opportunity to experience something spectacular, something quite magical…we are making a connection, a heart connection with the world.  It’s super fast but it’s super fantastic and it happens (or can happen) all the time as long as we are open to it.

What’s a Visual Haiku and what can we learn from them?

Haikus are Japanese poems that commonly reference a season; the tension between the changing seasons. There is usually a jolt of some kind, something that stops our mind.  A visual haiku illustrates this tension through a photograph.  Examples could be a leaf that has fallen into a puddle after a rain storm, a lost shoe emerging from the backyard after a long winter when the snow is melting, or dried out brown hydrangeas resting on the ground.  Autumn is one of my personal favorite times to shoot.  The landscape here in the Midwest is painted with golden yellow, red and brown leaves and so many different types of trees.  It’s a feast for my eyes and for my soul.

A deep interest of mine is the interconnection between body, mind, spirit and emotions. Do you see contemplative photography as having a role to play in that connection?

Definitely with the mind.  The photography practice itself is a nice start.  This helps us to connect with the world.  We learn how to sync our eye and our mind through assignments and exercises.  However, we can go deeper.   There are much more deeper teachings that can also allow us to connect with our heart; ultimately syncing eye, mind and heart. So on one level we can connect with our world and appreciate what we see but if we go deeper we have the opportunity to appreciate our lives in a way that maybe we didn’t before.  Appreciation of our lives. Of our LIFE.  This is powerful and this is possible.  Is it spirit?  Is it magic?  Is it soul? Is it drala? I believe we are integrating all of these and probably much more.  Regarding emotions?  I can’t really speak for others but from my own personal experience I can say that when I feel connected and in touch, in tune, in communion with others, with nature, with the world, and with the lamp post I feel pretty darn good.

How has your teaching of contemplative photography affected your relationship with it?

Teaching contemplative photography is an honor.  I am honored to share what I have been taught with others.  I can’t not practice.  It’s part of who I am. It’s how I experience the world now.  However, teaching can sometimes raise questions about my own personal practice…am I practicing what I am teaching?   I always do the assignments I give to students.  This helps me to connect with them.  It’s as though we are all seeing the same reflection in a water puddle or patch of light across a building. I feel in sync even though I might be on the other side of the world.  That’s pretty awesome for me!

Anything else you’d like to add?

I am always amazed and inspired at the questions I get from students.  These questions inspire me to learn more, to go deeper, to try harder.  I especially love looking at the images that each student takes.  Seeing the world through their eyes, seeing what their environment looks like.  Seeing how their thinking mind sometimes gets in the way.  Noticing how mine does the same thing too.
I think it is important to point out that these teachings are based on the Dharma Art teachings of the late  meditation master and artist, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche who was the founder of Shambhala International.

Where can we find you online?

You can find me at www.julieeinstein.com.
Info on the class at www.julieeinstein.com/seeing-drala/
Info on Nalanda Miksang International and www.miksang.org