** Books mentioned have Amazon affiliate links, meaning I make a few cents if you purchase through my link. I only recommend books that I’ve read.

This summer I’m offering a condensed version of my original Adventures in Seeing workshop, which focuses on cultivating the nine contemplative habits. This new six-week version will be more photography-based and, I hope, a way for you to experience your summer in a new way. I’m calling it a summer camp because it will be fun and help you to engage more fully with whatever your summer holds – even vacations. The nine habits will be split into three main areas – taking a pause, focusing our attention, and making the connection.

In my last post I talked about taking a pause. Today, I’ll talk about focusing our attention, and next week, making the connection.

Focusing our Attention

Once we’ve learned to take a pause, the next step has to do with where we choose to place our focus or attention. And, it is a choice. Do we really see the simple, ordinary things? Do we see with eyes of wonder?

Julia Cameron says that “attention is an act of connection.” Attention connects us to the only life we have. There is less thought and more experience. We see more and appreciate what we see. Thomas Merton speaks of the quality of our attention.

“There are degrees of attention: the glance, the cursory look, the look, the long look (self-forgetting, therefore, contemplative).” ~ Thomas Merton, Master of Attention

Tara Sophia Mohr speaks of attention in her poem, In the End. Click on the link to see the full poem.

“You are here to pay attention. That is enough.” ~ Tara Sophia Mohr, In the End

We can start by noticing those times where we only take a quick glance. What happens when we pay closer attention? How does it change the experience?

Spend 20 minutes with one subject (a person or thing). For, the first 5 minutes, just observe. What do you see upon first glance, then after a cursory look, then upon longer looking? Spend 15 minutes photographing your subject from all angles and perspectives and in the context of its environment. What do you discover?

Further Reading on Attention

The Importance of Focus in the Practice of Photography
The Art of Paying Attention
Is Anything Ordinary?
It’s the Little Things

Learn more about Adventures in Seeing Summer Camp – starts Monday, July 7th.