Photography and the Art of Seeing

One sees clearly only with the heart. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Discover how digital photography can help you see with fresh eyes, clarity, presence, and wonder. Learn how to receive and record images with heart-centered awareness, without judgment or analysis. Gain insight into how digital photography together with mindfulness and attention to breathing can enrich your…

Workshop Description

One sees clearly only with the heart.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Discover how digital photography can help you see with fresh eyes, clarity, presence, and wonder. Learn how to receive and record images with heart-centered awareness, without judgment or analysis. Gain insight into how digital photography together with mindfulness and attention to breathing can enrich your spiritual practice.

Specific topics in the workshop will include:

• seeing our everyday surroundings with increased awareness and attention
• seeing beauty in the imperfect (“wabi-sabi”)
• learning to see with soft eyes
• receiving, simplifying, and framing images
• practicing the art of visual discernment and visio divina (“sacred seeing”). 

We will begin each day with silent worship and grounding in poetry (40 minutes). We will be guided by LVM Shelton’s poem “A Window and a Door: A Prayer” and reflect on how the metaphors of window and door, light and opening might relate to photography. This will be followed by a brief illustrated lecture on the principles of contemplative photography and basic photographic composition. (20 minutes). Then, participants will receive specific photographic assignments to complete on campus (60 minutes). Each day will conclude with worship-sharing of our images and experiences (45 minutes).

This workshop is intended for both beginning and experienced photographers. Participants will need a digital camera (or smartphone or tablet), a working knowledge of their camera, and access to basic photo editing capabilities (e.g., smartphone, tablet, laptop).

Participants will be encouraged to use free time to record additional photographs, edit their photographs, and practice visual discernment and visio divina.

Accessibility

Participants should be in good physical condition to carry out the assignments, which will require some walking.

Resources

A selection of Peter’s images can be viewed at franklintreephoto.com.

Here are a few books on contemplative photography that Peter has found helpful:

• “The Practice of Contemplative Photography: Seeing the World with Fresh Eyes,” by Andy Karr and Michael Wood (Shambhala Publications, 2011)
• “Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice,” by Christine Valters Painter (Sorin Books, 2013)
• “See your way to mindfulness” by David Schiller (2016).

See also these websites:

• Visio Divina: A Practice of Sacred Seeing — Center for Action and Contemplation
• Seeing with the Heart: A Practice of Visio Divina

“The hardest thing about photography is learning to see.” (Galen Rowell) 

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” (Dorothea Lange) 

“How you see is what you see. And to see rightly is to be able to be fully present – without fear, without bias, and without judgment.” (Richard Rohr)

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Leader Experience

Peter West Nutting is a lifelong Quaker and photographer. He cites the legacy of his ancestors John and William Bartram as an important part of his upbringing. His photography has been nurtured by his travels, including trips with his Alec, and his passion for the landscapes of Maine, the Canadian Maritimes and Rockies, Alaska, and the Southwest. His creative life draws inspiration from gardening, tending a 30-acre tree farm in China, Maine, hiking, snowshoeing in the Maine woods, and exploring the Maine coast. Peter’s career as a scholar and teacher of German language and literature has led to his current career as a freelance translator from German to English.

Peter is a member of Vassalboro (Maine) Friends Meeting. He has led a number of workshops on “Photography and the Art of Seeing” at FGC Gatherings, most recently at Haverford College in 2024, as well as at other Quaker meetings.