Larry Lefever Photography

Miksang

New year, new direction. I thought as I set mobile photography aside for now and return to a more traditional way of shooting it would be a good time to practice Miksang.

Miksang is Tibetan for ‘good eye’ or ‘pure seeing’. In short it’s a method, a practice, through which we can learn to see beyond our normal, conceptual way of engaging the world. For instance, when we see a bridge our reaction is to see it through eyes that have seen thousands of bridges before. We have a concept of what a bridge looks like and when we see in this way our life becomes boring and so does our photography. Through the practice of Miksang we can train our eye to see not a ‘bridge’, but geometry, texture, shape, form, light, and shadow which come together for a visual treat, one of many, that we pass by every day. For a much better explanation and guidance go to http://www.miksang.com/.

Photos in this category will simply have a date and image number for a title. To add a descriptive label would instill a conception, the very thing we’re trying to see beyond. And all of the subjects will be drawn from ordinary things we encounter every day, but hopefully seen anew.

I also plan on doing some light-painting, portraits, and who knows what else, but by far I intent to dedicate this year to learning a new way of seeing. I’m excited and hope you’ll join me!