When the subject calls

"So what do you mean when you say: the subject selects you! Anyway?"  Some one asked.  "Well ..... I say,"  I simply walk around,  trying to be as mindful of the moment as I can relaxing into the experience of simply being here.  Often simply being aware that i am alive, invites and encourages  gratitude and receptivity.   I walk with purpose but no direction, listening to bird song and wind, feeling warmth of the sun and slight movement of thebreeze, smelling what this old nose still can smell and being mindful of my breath or maybe my feet and the earth beneath until a subject catches my attention.

That subjec† could and can be anything.  When something does catch my attention then from then on my intention is to explore with a beginners mind.  To be in a "what if" mindstate.

On this day I was near the river.  Walking about when the dappled sun shining on this bush caugh† my eye.  Green.  Nothing but green. At the time nothing but green didn't exactly scream-out as a great subject.  But I knelt all the same in the field of green and after saying "hello" I started to dream.   There was a tree behind this particular mass of green and the light was very contrasty.  As you can see, black to the left and muted but luminous green to the right.   Being a "macro-guy"  I like to get in close and personal....being a curious type I like to observe, I like to notice.   Macro photography, concentration practices, mindfulness, and the "construction of reality" or as some perfer to say - the "deconstruction of reality," flow well together.   Personally, I find that the phenomenological descriptions of "reality" offered through Buddhism is a good fit for me.  That said, I was "religiously constructed" in Christianity and realize how deeply those roots extend within.  I play.

Here I played by first becoming aware of the contrast extremes.  That seemed to naturally lead to finding some compostion that could take advantage of the light condition.  Doing that is not well served if done exclusively or even primarily through the lens.  It helps to sit back and observe.  See the whole as well as the part(s).  Taking time.  Noticing the play of light.  How it changes and how perception deepens as the mind quiets and mind energy is concentrated on just experiencing this moment as it unfolds. 

Here I imagined that  I was kneeling in the cool lush greenery of a land forgotten.  Nearby rushing water gurrgled and laughed as it ran by, the call of birds, rustle of spruce in the wind and peering through some secret space while catching a glimpse of something fleeting and magical.  I felt joy and delight.  Laughing as I clicked the shutter.  Giving thanks to green and to the universe.  Imagining being the light? 

I like this simple image.  It seems to be kinda "koan-ish" to me.  A symbol or a simple gesture of some gentle green truth.

Comments are welcome as are your (build it and they will come)images and reflections.

all denominations accepted!

doc Rob