Painted sky, salted air
The rhythm of the waves
Senses sparked, soul nourished
At our “Mindful Photography” workshop, I introduced the concept of a PhotoKu. This is the marriage of a photograph with a poem, loosely based on the Japanese from of poetry, Haiku. The idea is to give words to what we are seeing and feeling. The hope is to help us see more deeply.
I believe the biggest shift in my photography happened when I started to focus on experiences rather than chasing “keepers”. I find writing words with my images helps me connect to and remember the experience. The end result has been what I believe is stronger photographs.
My teaching partner for this workshop, Flint Sparks, recently added twist to this idea. I shared a PhotoKu with Flint and this was his reply…
“I loved the Photoku and wanted to send one back, but I also wanted to engage in another practice for myself. The practice is not to go through all the images I’ve processed and pick the “best” one to send to John. Instead, I decided to pick the “next” one, let go of ego, and allow what comes to come. This is what was next in line this morning with my photoku for you”
