Kneeling to Drink from the Well: A Silent Retreat
Register NowSaturday, June 16
Part I: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Part II: 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Full Day Fee: $75 (includes lunch)
Part I Fee: $40
Part II Fee: $40

Are you in need of refreshment and renewal? 

Take this opportunity to pause and spend some time in quiet reflection and rest, gently guided by an experienced director. 

In solitude you are invited to see yourself as you are, in this moment.  You may catch glimpses of how you have wanted to be seen; a renewed sense of your unique way of gazing, lovingly, on the world.  This is a day to reset your compass, to catch glimpses of the North Star leading toward a new horizon.

You will receive a copy of John’s beautiful book of photography and reflection to be the spiritual companion and guide for this day of stepping back.

In this unstructured silent retreat, the morning and afternoon sessions will offer quiet time for solitude and reflection.  You may choose to spend time reflecting on the photographs and guidebook, sitting, walking, and journaling as best suits your needs. 

he director will be available for guidance and conversation as needed. 

At the end of the morning and afternoon all will gather for quiet conversation about what each is experiencing. 

At mid-day John will offer meditative ways to have lunch together, silently, being attentive to the fragrances, textures, and tastes of our food.  (Full day retreatants only.) 

 At the end of lunch, we’ll hear the chant of the Great Bell, written by Thich Nat Hanh. (Full day retreatants and afternoon retreatants only.)


John Holliger comes alive walking the Lake Erie shore, slogging through wetlands, learning the habitats of forests in Ohio, the stories the rocks are telling, watching the movement from starry nights to the first light of day.  A graduate of Oberlin College and Yale Divinity School, John is an Episcopal priest who served parishes in Connecticut and Ohio.  Laying down that work at 58, John is a self-taught nature photographer with an animated curiosity for how potters, painters, poets and classic photographers approach their art—always on the creative edge, taking risks, asking “What’s next?”

When
June 16th, 2018 9:00 AM
Location
3430 Rocky River Dr.
Cleveland, OH 44111
United States
Contact
Phone: 216-688-1111  ext. 251 
Email: info@riversedgecleveland.com
Event Fee(s)
Full Day Fee$ 75.00
Part I Fee$ 40.00
Part II Fee$ 40.00

My Plausibility Strategies
 
My first memory of fog and mist was the waterfall at Tankerhoosan Lake.  I remember the constant flow of water that rushed onto the rocks below, and the misty fog that rose from the rocks, back up the falls and to the lake, which, in the fall of the year, was hidden in its own early morning fog and mist.[1] 
 
Here was a simple pattern of falling and rising and falling.
 
The lake did not experience the abrasive, noisy explosions of gasoline powered boats, only the slosh and skimming of an occasional canoe.  Yes, it was stocked with trout the week before fishing season began, and then emptied of trout on the first day by a line of poles that went all around the lake.  After that one day only an occasional boy scout appeared with a pail and worms to entice, at most, an 8 inch sunfish.  Here were fish who played the game well; nibbling the edges of the worm up to the hook and then moving on.
 
As a child, I sensed presences in the mist and water and fog.  Mist was youthful, and the most free to move quickly given the slightest opening.  Fog was the elder, the slow moving giant of ancient folk lore, who was safe to enter and, when I did, allowed me to become joyfully lost to everyone who was outside of it.  Like the slow lumbering giants of folk lore, the fog was protective and never intrusive.  No wonder I longed to develop as many plausible reasons as I could to leave the house.  I wanted to experience the over-arching love of the giants that waited patiently for me to arrive in the woods or to row my little boat out and become lost in the world of my protector, the unmovable fog over the lake.[2] 
 
I’ve kept wanting that, all of my life.  I’ve continued applying my imagination to strategies of escape that let me enter the larger world, well into my adult years when they are no longer necessary or needed.
My most memorable mentor in this regard was the poet William Stafford.  He held his feet responsible for leaving a meeting or a place that restricted his freedom of expression or being.  When a gathering of people were expressing something that was contrary to his soul, he felt his feet pick up on the dangerousness of this dynamic, and begin pushing against the ground as he sat in a chair.  They would carry him outside onto the gravel parking lot and home.  In a poem, he invited me to leave with him:  “If you have feet with standards as well, then you …”
 
I need to be alone.  Something happens to me which is so good and grounding and fills me with contentment when I am alone.  It’s as if my sharp edges become smooth—that includes my sharp tongue, the claws of my monkey mind jumping from tree to tree leaving scratches everywhere.  I become patient and accepting of me, once more, and if I can for me, then I can for other people.
 
Brother David said, in the Good Earth Catalog, that he never put a worm on his hook when he went fishing.  He just wanted to sit beside a lake and be alone.  If he didn’t have a worm on his hook, he wouldn’t be distracted by catching a fish.  He wished that he could someday just go to a lake and sit there, without a pole.
 
 
 
 
 
John Holliger ©2017

​Elements of Photography at First Light to keep in mind      
The pastels between night and dawn
 
1, Photograph with a wide range of brackets, 7 or 9, with a bias toward the light colors.
                Pastels look best with the least amount of contrast.  So, go to the brightness/contrast tool,
                And consider lowering the contrast. 
 
2.  Be prepared for long exposures, using either the 2 second delay, or a remote shutter release with hands off your camera to prevents camera shake.
                You could use “B” for longer than 30 seconds.
3.  You will probably combine your bracketed exposures in Light room using HDR to you end up with a balanced exposure.
4.  How might you use the Neewer constant lights to lighten, dark area?  Remember, as at dusk, the sun “moves” quickly and the light changes position quickly.
5.Consider taking a long series of photographs every 20 seconds.  They could become a slide show in Light room’s “slide show.”  We’ll learn that later.
5.  Experiment with the external microphone, setting the volume down on the camera and microphone.  A digital voice recorder is a strong alternative to using the camera as a sound recorder.
6.  Review the histogram on the LED back of the camera.
7.  Keep the black, white, and silver reflectors with you and experiment using them.
8. “Waiting.”  The light changes quickly at the beginning and end of the day.  If a cloud covers the sun, look up and see if it’s a small or large cloud, and if a large one, do you want to wait for it to come out.
9.  Translucent diffusers when the sun is too bright.  Hold between your object and the sun.
10.  If a wind is constant then compensate by opening the lens to f4 or f 2.8, and speed the shutter to 1/200 or more to prevent blur.  Focus from front to rear, a smidgeon at a time, so later you can focus stack all of them.