The Receptive Mind
... of photography is the act of claiming for yourself the thing being photographed. By the definition of the second sentence, to first claim this object one must put themselves above the object into a position of power over it. By all these statements Sontag appears to be concluding that to photograph one must first have the power and willingness to seize the object for their own purposes. It is a very man-over-nature way of viewing the world – very voyeuristic, as if one was standing apart, looking through a lens at everything. By this statement it would sound almost as if to take a picture of a hard to reach flower one should remove the obstacles with a backhoe and tramp down any twig invading the visual plane – because this would be claiming the flower and wielding power over it. By definition, Sontag’s statements appear to be rather brutal, but there are many other views and ways counter to her opinions. In an almost Zen-like poem, Walt Whitman states: “The earth does not withhold, it is generous enough. The truths of the earth continually wait, they are not so conceal’d either, They are calm, subtle, untransmissable by print, They are imbued through all things, conveying themselves willingly…” The Photographer John Daido Loori was a student of Minor White, who carries a very unique way of viewing the world, and therefore, photographing it. The views these to men share and in sharp contrast to the views of Sontag. When Loori was first being instructed by White, he was given these instructions for taking a photograph: Venture into the landscape without expectations. Let your subject find you. When you approach it, you will feel resonance, a sense of recognition. If, when you move away, the resonance fades, or if it gets stronger as you approach, you’ll know you have found your subject. Sit with your subject and wait for your presence to be acknowledged. Don’t try to make a photograph, but let your intuition indicate the right moment to release the shutter. If, after you’ve made an exposure, you feel a sense of completion, bow and let go of the subject and your connection to it. Otherwise, continue photographing until you feel the process is complete. In another quote by White, he discusses his view of the mind during the act of photographing: The state of mind of the photographer while creating is a blank…[but] It is a very active state of mind really, a very receptive state of mind, ready at an instant to grasp an image, yet with no image pre-formed in at any time. Wh...