At the beginning of this year, I began a 365-day photo project called Bringing Contemplation Back. Each day’s image would represent what is called in Miksang contemplative photography a flash of perception.

A flash of perception is a gap in the thinking process – a moment when you are suddenly stopped by something startling or shocking or absorbing. Time comes to a standstill and you are suddenly present. There are no concepts, judgments, labels – just pure, direct seeing. For me, this happens within the first half of a second, before the labels start flooding my brain. We’ve all had these moments. Seeing a breathtaking sunset, or a look of delight on the face of someone we love, or a whale rising out of the ocean.

However, these flashes do not have to be once in a blue moon moments. These moments of awareness are all around us if we are open to them (whether we have our cameras or not).

Some of these experiences are represented in my 365-days project. But, I have to admit there are days I’m not very open. The end of the day comes around and I have no picture, so I go looking for one. This is the opposite of the Miksang way which is about having the images come to you when you’re in a receptive state.

After spending two weeks in Boulder, Colorado experiencing contemplative photography, I am now more able to recognize my flashes of perception and how frequently they can arise in a single day. There is no excuse not to have an image to post. Now that 2012 is half over, I’m pledging to only present true flashes of perception for the remainder of this year.

More on the Flash – a blog post
The Practice of Contemplative Photography (paid link) – the book by Andy Karr and Michael Wood