Contemplative camera: 30 Days of Perception: (1) 'Being'

Monday 5 November 2018

30 Days of Perception: (1) 'Being' - days 1-5

A few months ago I posted here from an online photography workshop led by Kim Manley Ort (titled 'Impermanence', twelve posts starting here). This is the first of six posts from a new workshop titled '30 Days of Perception'.

In her workshop introduction, Kim writes [my summary]:

Perception takes in everything, not just particular objects, but also what we see but don’t register, like foreground, background, space, periphery, etc. Many of these things we filter out of our cognition.

Perception is primary and pre-cognitive. It’s the foundation or ground of what we see, before we name or put labels on. There is not yet judgement or evaluation or even understanding.

It is sensual, an embodied experience through the senses, intuition, and emotions. It's dynamic and ever changing. It's reciprocal and relational, the way we connect with the world. It's unique: each person's perceptions are like no-one else’s. Perception is non-narrative. It’s what we see, not the story of what we see. It is as it is – no story, no judgement, no meaning.

Why is it important? Because perceptions create our world view, our reality. And, it’s always open to change.

Part 1 - the first ten days - is about 'Being', especially our five senses, our intuition and emotions. Here are my images, one each for the first five days. It's been a slightly strange experience to make images of non-visual perceptions.

Day 1 - seeing light