This is a book that has been in my library for quite a long time but one that I had not previously thought of in connection with photography. Perhaps simply because at the time I first got it I was not so focused on photography I did not register sufficiently clearly that there is a chapter on photography in it. I was more intent at the time on other aspects of the visual arts and their relationship with Buddhism.

This is a little ironic as this short chapter on photography, just five pages long, Seeing the Light: Photography as Buddhist Practice (pp 141 ff) is written by Stephen Batchelor, who has for quite some time been one the writers who has had the greatest impact upon me so far as my understanding and practice of Buddhism are concerned. It was thinking about the last exercise and the work of Hiroshi Sugimoto that sent me back to this book on the off-chance there would be something useful in it and so I rediscovered this piece.

Somewhat to my surprise I discovered that Batchelor is also a photographer, though so far I have not seen any of his work, and he has some interesting observations on the practice of photography that resonate with some of my own thinking (both so far as photography and Buddhism are concerned). It also expresses ideas that fit nicely with Exercise 1.5 and its idea of repeatedly photographing a particular scene over a prolonged period of time to record its shifts and changes.

One of his key points are that photography is itself a mindful activity, one that depends on attention and focus, of careful observation of what is before you. In this sense Batchelor is clearly an admirer of Cartier-Bresson who emphasised the importance of looking and concentration. Whilst I do not subscribe much to the idea of the decisive moment I nevertheless do very much agree that at the heart of photography is the act of looking and paying attention and am whole-heartedly with HCB in this regard.

Another, which is relevant to Exercise 1.5, is that no two moments are the same. A photograph captures a singular moment, one that can never be repeated or replicated. The more you look, the more you can see that everything – the light, the imagery, everything that makes up the scene – is constantly changing. Taking a photograph is like stepping into a river: you can never step into the same water twice, it is constantly flowing and changing.

In a way therefore, another of his arguments is that the notion of a real, discrete object in view is thrown into doubt. This links back to the notion of emptiness, nothingness, sunyatta, that I discussed in connection with the Sublime. This has profound implications for any suggestion that there is “truth” in photography, that “the camera does not lie”, which is not something to which I subscribe, as I have commented on at various points through my current journey through photography on this degree course.

One particularly interesting point for me is that Batchelor’s then current photographic work was concerned with reflections. This is something that I have explored myself and written about in the past. It is something that still interests me, again raising questions about the reliability of the photographic image.

Neither for Batchelor nor for me is photography itself an activity of Buddhist practice. Rather, Buddhist practice is an influence on the way we approach and think about photography. Photography becomes a tool for looking at the world in a more concentrated, literally focused, attentive, and mindful, clear-sighted way. As I have progressed through this course and developed as a photographer I have become more and more aware of the need to slow down and take a much more considered approach to the act of releasing the shutter. My forays into film in particular have helped me to be more mindful of the act of taking a photograph, and of what is being photographed. I have, in Buddhist terms, become much more mindful about he processes of photography, and its implications and effects.

Baas, J, & Jacob, M.J. (Eds) (2004).  Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art.  Berkeley:  University of California Press

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