Principles of Classic Photography,
the foundation of a creating manner of life
- Follow the leadings that come many times every day.
- Bad weather makes good photographs--opportunities.
- When a leading brings you to a certain place, get everything ready, stay put, then wait wait wait to see what unfolds.
- Get up early before anyone else in the house, make coffee, sink into the uninterrupted stillness/silence, and write whatever comes out of you in a journal.
- Photograph low with the sun on the left or right; look from angles that are not the usual and customary; for example, go 360 degree around a flower; use every lens in the bag to practice looking from every possible angle.
- Cause no harm. Put everything back.
- Ask permission of a person. Do not sneak a photograph. Do not steal.
- Stay connected to the kind, thoughtful, gentle ones who laugh at themselves with ease; human and other than human.
- Create a simple, focused photograph; create a simple, focused manner of living.
- Portraits: ask gentle questions, answer any question. You have nothing you have to defend about yourself. Nurse a glass of water for an hour or more—Dorothea Lange. You will catch glimpses of the best in the other person, and yourself as well. Expect to see those glimpses of the best. That's your portrait you are after; and that pour portrait too.
- practice your best gratitude and generosity of spirit every day.
- You have been given everything you need already for creating the patterns and rhythms of classic photography, and of your life. You are your own best teacher; you are the expert about you.
- This moment is as perfect as it needs to be for you to love; this moment is as imperfect as it needs to be for you to serve.
Dawn Howard's Creek Boone, North Carolina
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