“To photograph: it is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart.”
― Henri Cartier-Bresson
Second Encounter
In our second session we shared photos from our individual practice and learned about sitting in contemplative view of images we or others have made, the practice of Visio Divina. If you missed the session or would like to revisit Berto’s presentation, watch the video below.
For our next encounter…
- Keep receiving/making photos in this manner:
- Be open in your contemplative walk for perceptions to stop you.
- Discern what is it that stopped you and only include that which stopped you in the frame. Remember to walk around the edge of the frame so “nothing is added and nothing taken away.”
- Make the equivalence with the abilities you have to try to make a photo that matches as much as possible what you saw and stopped you in your tracks.
- Email the three photos to Berto, with ECWW PHOTOS in the subject line.
- Each person who has already submitted a photo to Berto will receive another person’s photo by email.
- Practice Visio Divina with this photo at least a couple of times before our next encounter.
- After you’ve practiced Visio Divina with this photo at least a couple of times, write a haiku as your response, what emerges in your meditation with it.
- At least a week prior to our next encounter, email the haiku and the photo to Berto, with ECWW HAIKU in the subject line.
- If you get a photo, make sure you email the haiku and photo in time, or let Berto know that you won’t be able to do so.
If you don’t receive a photo, that means Berto did not receive your photos. Let Berto know or send them again.
Enjoy the second encounter video…
Contemplative Creativity meets the the second Wednesday of each month at 6pm PT, via Zoom.
Our Guide:
Berto Gándara-Perea – is an Episcopal priest and lives with his husband, a psychotherapist and also a priest, with their amazing three -legged dog Ava in beautiful Orcas Island, Washington. He is currently the rector at Emmanuel church on Orcas. He is also a novice in the Communion of the Mystic Rose. Berto is passionate about contemplative practices and photography, in that order! He started with photography with the first iPhone back in 2007. His passion soon led him to get some better tools in camera and in teachers to guide him in the craft and art of photography. He studied at PhotoManhattan and then at the International Center for Photography. He then approached photography from a Buddhist perspective through Miksang workshops in France with Helen Vink and in Boulder, CO with Michael Wood and Julie DuBose; as well as Vision Quest Photo Workshops with Douglas Beasley in the Badlands, South Dakota and Yunnan Province, China. He has also participated in a photo critique workshop with renown photographer and teacher Bruce Barnbaum. We encourage you to look up these great teachers and experiences! You can check out Berto’s photography website at: https://bertogandara.net.