[Online] White Magic: Winter & Contemplative Photography

“Through the medium of your perceptions, you can discover magic, or drala. You can connect your own intrinsic wisdom with a sense of greater vision beyond you.”
— Chögyam Trungpa

This online course takes winter itself as the ground of practice. Rather than using the season as a theme or mood, we meet it directly through perception. Light, texture, stillness, and ordinary appearances become the material of contemplative photography.

In contemplative arts such as Miksang photography, haiku, and classical ikebana, seasonal awareness is fundamental. A season is not symbolic. It is immediate experience. Attending closely to what is present allows perception to simplify, settle, and become vivid.

Each week includes a live Zoom session with short teachings and guidance, followed by a simple photographic assignment. During the week, participants take photographs in response to the assignment, select a small number of images, and share them with the group. These images are viewed together in the following session as a practice of seeing, without critique or technical analysis.

What We’ll Explore

• Direct perception through photography

• Miksang principles and fresh seeing

• The three levels of perception: form, sensibility, and orderly chaos

• Zen and contemplative aesthetics

• Tantric Buddha Families as perceptual lenses

  Readings provided

Course Format

• Duration: Four weeks
• Live sessions: Weekly, two hours on Zoom
• Structure: Teaching, assignment, shared viewing, and discussion
• Participation: Participant-made images are central to the course

Open to all. No photography experience required. A digital camera or phone camera is sufficient. The emphasis is on perception, not technique.

Cost

$150 suggested amount. Sliding fee scale.

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Information & Registration

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