The second day, I tried to list everything that contributed to a good picture. What are important materials? The list had high two things: actively thinking about the composition in the area, and intentionally and careful post-processing. But what is the activity of going and taking those pictures first? What provides important energy?
Such a question turns into philosopher and leaves the technique behind. When other photographers talk about their technical methods, they are often useful but no one is stunning. What a person drives to take a photo, however, may be far more surprising. There may be technology How To do something, but it does not explain Why,
So, why? Maybe I can’t speak answers to all, but I can at least think about why I do photography myself. Can this be a social aspect of sharing photos, some chance for recognition? Or thrill of hunting in bird photography? There is some effect in them, perhaps, but the greatest source of livelihood for me is a sense of emptiness.
I am referring to the perception of emptiness, what Zen Buddhist teacher Shunri Suzuki said Direct experience of realityWhich is slightly different from the word emptiness in the common English parlance. As I use it as I use it, it refers to the lack of self -idea, where you are one with an activity without ego.
This discovery for emptiness is a discovery for the short -term world. Yesterday, against dry wild grasses waving in the air, I saw the Pale Moon Rise, gained strength in the dark sky. A whole world in a moment. Catching that world is your own emptiness, because you can be in that world without any prior perception. I am sure that this is why, for me, photography is so peaceful.
What is a good picture? When I see my favorite, I can tell you what separates them from all others. composition? lights? They are important, but they are not in my mind. Instead, my favorite were those where I had a direct experience of becoming a world in the visible, and only after receiving “Oh yes, I am here”. Melting one’s own melting in a single moment makes a good picture.
This is not to say that I have a recipe or a habit to take good pictures. I often take shots that I like to remove, even when I have enjoyed the moment of photo. There are other experiments, or just plain secrets of the process. Maybe I tried to find emptiness, but found something on the way, left me only with a faint sense of existence. But a real resonance with the scene means good composition and good light because it is our own way of communicating with the world and getting something good in return.
Methods and photographic techniques are important. But after learning, practicing … Why do I go out again and again? I just want to see those worlds again, plain, without any decision or evaluation. This is a simple love of nature, and there is a desire to connect with it in some way. We come from the universe, and that is what finally supports us, even if we sometimes hide it under the opaque veil of our own mental noise.
What does a good wildlife photographer make? A craving for solitude comes to mind. But it can not always be solitary in a literal meaning. Maybe a cool view can be interviewed by helicopter overhead, or barking a dog in a distance. But even though the literal solitude is interrupted, one can seek for the almanac world that offers a moment of solitude, some reminds us of our primitive beginnings.
I think all humans have the instinct to get this solitude as that void, although it is not always clear how to find it. With photography, we turn the chaos of memory cards and cameras into the same picture of the chaos and the deepest shade. Sometimes, we find what we are seeing, and that is the magic of the photo.
A few months ago, I lay on the grass in Brazil and found a southern lapwing through the viewfinder. I had a moment to find emptiness within the world of lapwing, and it became my favorite shot of this species. In a world where very little is understood, a lapwing on grass is the most meaning of all. When you find an intimate moment with a bird or mountain or a forest, then what is in front of you becomes your life for just a moment.
This may look mysterious all, but I believe that if it seems, it is only because we have been saturated with mechanical rationalism. In the wild, between the smell of trees and trees and birds that sing birds, it makes it right to understand.
In an honor, this is why I find AI so disgusting in art. Beyond its immediate threats, AI is also the next level of a process whose broad philosophy does not emphasize the personal discovery of the world. Instead, a final product has glory so that it can act as a fertilizer for the development of a solstess system.
These days, time may seem more uncertain than before. However, in the surrounding chaos, we can always find new reasons for taking a picture. Perhaps it is a new camera or lens, or a week’s holiday for tropics. But beyond this, if we want the opportunity to explore through constant photography, we should come back to be surrounded by raw existence. And once, we should hope that we can stumble once more on emptiness in one of those almanac worlds, before it disappears in an eye blink.
