Philippe Gross's The Tao of photography: seeing beyond seeing

1101 Words3 Pages

In Philippe Gross's book "The Tao of photography: seeing beyond seeing" Gross emphasizes, through his photography and other more well known photographers works, the Taoist philosophy and wisdom. I found this books message not only creative ,but both inspirational and instructional. He couples photographic works with informational text to help more deeply understand his philosophy. Gross emphasizes creativity and heightened awareness rather than formal techniques. Straying away from formal techniques is something that I feel I have been trying to do when I take pictures. This photo book has helped me understand new ways of approaching the camera. Upon opening the book in the store I was instantly drawn into the photos. The ones that I liked the most were the works that had an obvious theme of light ,but more so they all had a wonderfully beautiful feel to them, a feel that I want my photographs to have. An clear theme of light is what I try to incorporate in my photos. A streak of light in a dark room or a soft window light detailing a bed sheet are the little nuances that make great photographs. Simplistic forms and details created by light are things like I like to see and pay attention to when I look at photographs. After reading the book and understanding the Taoist approach to taking photographs I not only appreciated the photographs much more , it made me want to take better photographs.

The photograph Light ray by Philippe Gross has a simple bean of light seemingly peeking through a door crack. The simple light ray is so sharp and so alluring. The pointed light is coming from the right corner and leading into the left. The direction of the light drew my eyes into the photograph. The light is so bright and the room is so dark it provides a great and interesting contrast. This one beam lights up the dark corner of the cement block wall providing a light gleam of light separate from the main ray.

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