Miksang is a Tibetan word meaning "good eye". The goal of Miksang photography is to reveal the true nature of things, just as they are. The Miksang photographer tries to share their perception as directly as possible, without letting any other ideas get in the way. You take the picture, capture the moment, and move on. It's a deliberate way of seeing.
I was first introduced to Miksang in Pittsburgh last Spring when I participated in a workshop led by teacher Brian Sano. (Check out Brian's
website and
gallery. Highly recommended!) Each of the three days, we focused on a different element: first color, then pattern, then texture. Each day included lecture, discussions, exercises, and then 2-3 hours on our own taking pictures in the neighborhood. In the afternoons we would regroup, sort through our photos, and create a slideshow of our top picks. Below are some of the photos I took during that first workshop and shortly thereafter.
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| Color in Pittsburgh, PA |
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| Color in Pittsburgh, PA |
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| Color in Pittsburgh, PA |
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| Pattern (and color) in Pittsburgh, PA |
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| Pattern in Pittsburgh, PA |
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| Pattern in Pittsburgh, PA |
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| Texture in Pittsburgh, PA |
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| Texture in Pittsburgh, PA |
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| Texture in Pittsburgh, PA |
A few weeks ago, I took the second Miksang workshop in the series (there are five total). This workshop was held in Vienna and focused on uncovering the essence of things. We considered, for example, the tree-ness of trees, the water-ness of water, the sidewalk-ness of sidewalks, the people-ness of people. Each object is different--this tree is different from that tree, for example--but every tree has qualities that make it instantly identifiable as a tree. These are the qualities that together form the tree's tree-ness. (Don't worry if you're confused about all this "-ness" talk. It took us three days of intense workshop to even begin to grasp the concept.) Perhaps some pictures will help.
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| Sidewalk-ness in Vienna Austria |
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| Sidewalk-ness (and water-ness) in Vienna, Austria |
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| Sidewalk-ness and water-ness in Vienna, Austria |
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| Water-ness (and color) in Vienna, Austria |
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| Tree-ness in Vienna, Austria |
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| Tree-ness in Vienna, Austria |
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| Tree-ness in Vienna, Austria |
The trick to learning any new skill is, of course: practice, practice, practice. I love taking my camera out into the city, or simply along with me wherever I happen to be going. It doesn't have to be anywhere special to be interesting. The opportunity to notice and to capture our perceptions is always there. While paying attention to "-ness" has been more difficult for me than color, pattern, or texture, it is already proving to be worth the effort.
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