PixelatedImage Blog

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” - Elliott Erwitt

“To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

I’m not a Taoist, in fact my worldview is founded on pretty different principles, but reading Philippe L. Gross and S.I.Shapiro’s The Tao of Photography: Seeing Beyond Seeing (on Amazon.com HERE.) was a really beautiful experience. I’ve committed in 2008 to pursue the Why of photography and where I pursue the How I want it to be in relation only to the Why. The Tao of Photography is a window into a world of seeing and photographing that is intuitional, spontaneous, harmonious, and intentionally integrated with the worldview of the authors.

The book is full of wonderful quotes from luminaries like Henri Cartier-Bresson, and some strong photographs, and as much as it is based on Taoist philosophy it doesn’t require one to be a Taoist to appreciate at least much of what is written.

If you are a very analytical person and you tend towards the technical, this might be exactly what you need to balance that side with the more artistic/intuitive side of yourself (it’s in there, dig deep, you’ll find it.) Photography is too often reduced to a technical experience, Gross and Shapiro remind us it can be a means of seeing, and seeing a means of living.

I liked this book more than I expected and it’s already been marked up extensively with my highlighter and marginalia.

I still recommend Pattersons’ Photography and The Art of Seeing as a first exploration of this topic, as it’s a little more accessible and requires less wading through the weltenshauung. Still, this book about receptivity is a refreshing one. Highly recommended.