Jim Dollar

Nature photography is the next best thing to being there, and being there (Or, actually, being here/now) is all there is to it. Photography is my way of bringing the world beyond words/intellect/reason/logic/rationality/analytics into the world of ordinary/apparent reality, giving the invisible world, the source/ground of awe/wonder/transcendence/ineffable/numinous/unspeakable reality a chance at us. My camera is my paint brush and my computer is my canvas. My work is to present the best image I am capable of producing using the tools available to me. If I use a tripod and mess with the shutter speed, aperture, and white balance, what of it? The same goes for using AI, Photoshop and Lightroom. If it helps me to craft an image, I'm on it. I make images--I do not "take pictures"! I'm doing hermenutics with my images. Saying what cannot be said, in a way Taoists of every age can appreciate and comprehend. We all interpret our scenes by the way we present what we see--whether we realize it or not. The trick with photography is simple: We have to put ourselves into a scene and stay there until we see it. I've written a book of reflections on "The art of photography," it is available at the Kindle store, or you can read it for free on my WordPress site -- https://jimwdollar.com/category/the-art-of-photography/ Photographic images can serve as "portkeys" to transcendent reality (Transcendent and Transcendence refer to what calls forth "WOW" in saying all we can say). Native cultures have always known that the visible world is upheld and sustained by the invisible world, and the natural world serves as a doorway to the world beyond words. Pay attention to the images/scenes that catch your eye, and sit with them, looking closer, seeing what comes to mind in the presence of that image, that place. Observe without thinking. Set your rational/logical mind aside and invite your intuitive/instinctive mind to have free rein. See where it goes, what occurs to you, what you realize, what you know... And respond to that experience in ways that honor it by "doing right by it," in ways that you know are right because you know it. Alan Watts said that D.T. Suzuki related an incident in which a member of one of his audiences asked him what he meant when he used the word "Enlightenment." Suzuki told the person they could think of enlightenment as "habitual intuition." "Habitual intuition" is knowing what to do, what to say, how to respond to the moment at hand, where to put the tripod, or where to stand with the camera in order to take the picture. Intuition is about knowing how to live our life the way our life needs to be lived. And it is at the heart of photography. Practice living out of what you know in this way, and not out of what you think, contrive, plan as ways to get what you want and have your way. Doing what you know needs to be done is living on a different level, and you will experience belonging to the invisible world as native cultures have always done. This kind of "knowing" is "gnosis"--"hidden knowing." What Gnosticism and Gnostics were condemned and persecuted for, and honors the truth they knew to be true by living out of what we know to be so. The Way is open to everyone who takes the time to find it. The way of nature is The Way. There are a collection of terms which, when understood as they are to be understood--and no one can tell you that, because explaining is only words talking about words, and what we are after is the realization, the "Of course!" that is beyond words, and is the adamantine foundation of knowing. Reflecting on each term until we know what it means for us, opens the way to the Way. Here follows my list but be sure to add your own words to it: Original Nature. Innate Virtues (What we do best and enjoy doing most). Intrinsic Intuition. Balance. Harmony. Integrity. Sincerity. Spontaneity. Emptiness. Stillness. Silence. Imagination. Reflection. Realization. Compassion. Generosity. Kindness. Reflecting on these words forms a meditation practice to carry you along the Way. Martin Palmer has said, after Lao Tzu before him, "The path that can be discerned as a path is not a reliable path." So, we cannot depend/re/y on what someone else tells us. We have to open ourselves to ourselves and to what is happening here/now, and trust ourselves to sense/intuit/feel what is what and what is called for in response to it, and do it with the gifts of our original nature and the virtues/specialties/characteristics that are uniquely ours from birth. And, having done our best with it, step back and let nature take its course, and step into the next situation as it arises... Throughout what remains of the time left for living.