Practicing Mindfulness In Photography
Lesson 5 from: Mastering the Art of PhotographyChris Weston
Practicing Mindfulness In Photography
Lesson 5 from: Mastering the Art of PhotographyChris Weston
Lesson Info
5. Practicing Mindfulness In Photography
Lessons
Class Introduction - Three Steps To Creative Photography
03:48 2Firing The Creative Mind - Part 1: The Camera Points Both Ways
03:10 3Firing The Creative Mind - Part 2: Letting Go Of Judgement
06:53 4Firing The Creative Mind - Part 3: Detaching From Outcomes
04:12 5Practicing Mindfulness In Photography
02:43 6Finding The Visual Narrative
02:39 7Behind-the-scenes: Naples
07:52 8Seeing Beneath The Surface Of Things
02:30Finding Inspiration
03:19 10Slowing Down
03:57 11Three Reasons To Shoot RAW
02:29 12Choosing the Right Frame Format
03:52 13Don’t Be Limited By The Shape Of Your Camera
05:07 14WYSIWYG
04:15 15Choosing Lenses
05:02 16Perspective
02:44 17Considering Foreground And Background
03:10 18Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad But Three Into Two Is Better
03:43 19Separate And Isolate
02:32 20The Art Of Creative Exposure
06:38 21Focus On The Story
04:20 22The Passage Of Time
03:00 23Creating A Visual Sense Of Mood
04:24 24Color vs. Black & White
03:09 25The Decisive Moment
03:00 26Using Color As A Cohesive Tools
01:51 27Photography Is A Two-Part Process
06:55 28Case Study: Recreating The Art of Sumi-e
07:04 29Case Study: Making Something Out of Nothing
04:32 30Case Study: Moody Blues
03:29 31Image Reviews
03:02 32Image Review: The “Thinking Man”
01:55 33Image Review: The Golf Course
02:32 34Image Review: Dreamstate
02:38 35Image Review: Gone Fishing
02:24 36Image Review: Promenade
01:47 37Image Review: Sky and Reflections
01:57 38Image Review: Grass and Field
02:20 39Final Word: Show Me What The World Looks Like To You
04:44Lesson Info
Practicing Mindfulness In Photography
when I first started thinking about this cause this particular lesson was titled Mindfulness Exercises for Photographers. I was planning to tell you how I get into a mindful state when I'm taking photographs and offer a few exercises you could try, but when I thought about it, I honestly couldn't think what to say. The thing is, when you put a camera in my hand, mindfulness comes naturally to me. To be fair. Most other times, as anyone who knows me well, we'll tell you I'm completely mindless. The camera to me is like a trigger. So rather than tell you what I do, I thought I'd show you what happens when I'm on location and my mind is triggered. Take a look at this scene here and tell me what you see. Now let me tell you what I see as well as a triangle. There's a bold circle created by this boulder. There's an implied horizon line, which I've positioned just above the center line, which draws your attention to the foreground. Importantly, there's also a small white line under the bould...
er, which creates separation between it and the water. There are lines on the mountain texture in the rocks and the vivid orange color in the land complemented by the blue in the sky. More subtle but critical to the composition is this small triangle in the foreground, which is an almost perfect mirror of the mountain. Here is another example. What do you see here? When I first came across this location, I wasn't exactly inspired is a derelict industrial area of a small French town. But after a moment's contemplation, I was drawn to the water tumbling over the weir. I could see line and pattern, and the quickly descending sun was just beginning to add a touch of color. I set up my camera frame, the shot I was visualizing in my mind and waited for the deeper glow of sunset. And this is the image I talk by cropping tightly, isolating the water and removing the distracting background environment. I have drawn attention to the key subjects, the line and the pattern of the falling water. I've used an evenly positioned Baroque diagonal to lend equal weighting to the to half of the frame and used white balance to add a blue cast that complements the orange yellow reflection of the setting sun. There are many ways to get yourself into a mindful state before you start a photography session, and no one way will suit all people. So I suggest trying different exercises and seeing which one works best for you in the resources panel below. I've provided some ideas and links to websites and articles that I've found useful in the past. It's not a definitive list, but it's a decent place to start.
Ratings and Reviews
Gary Hook
Wow, what a wonderful journey. I love the concept of telling a story with one's photos and as I go through past images, I'm seeing them in a much different perspective. That's the good news, The bad? The lost opportunities I never 'saw' before; however that is a good thing. There is so much to internalize with the material so that it can get out of the head and into the 'heart'. I also found the concept really helps me with composition, both in camera and post. Biggest take away, as Chris underscored in his closing, is to slooooow down, take the time and feel it. Don't be so quick to leave one scene as there remain other aspects, yet to be discovered. A great experience that I truly enjoyed Thank you
Glenda
I loved this course - in particular the latter part of it in which he demonstrated how post processing lets you really tell the story of the image. Another fabulous course. Thanks Chris & thanks Creative Live.
Abdullah Alahmari
Thanks a lot to mr. Chris Weston This course is great and It is a 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 course for me. Beside the other course ( mastering photographic composition and visual storytelling) both courses are Complementing to each other and highly recommended.