Master photographers Flint Sparks, John Barclay, Rikki Cooke, and Dewitt Jones share personal experiences and passion for their art.
About this Event
Awakened by Beauty: Intimate Conversations about Contemplative Photography
An Online Series Hosted by Threshold: A Place for Community, Creativity and Well-Being & Led by Flint Sparks, PhD
Series Dates:
July 30, August 6, 13 and 20
2:00-3:30 p.m. CST
Tickets for the entire series*:
$150/$125/$100 Seasoned & Pro Photographer tiered rates. Proceeds support the artists, Threshold, and cultivate Inspired Seers.
$50/$25/$10 Inspired Seer tiered rates. Pay what you can. Proceeds support the artists, Threshold, and an Inspired Seeing Community.
Recordings of all the conversations will be made available to those who purchase the series.
The Series:
We have so many reasons why we photograph. Our desires often go far beyond simply making good images. Photography can ignite our deepest longing for a direct connection with the beauty and magic of life. In this series of presentations and intimate conversations among friends, we will speak to our personal experiences as photographers, including the passion which called us to this path as well as what opened to us as we followed it. In this four-part series, we will share some of our images and also discuss what this way of seeing and living has taught us.
This offering, however, is not about photographic technique and is not simply for photographers. We will be speaking about all of life, the light and the shadow, and what it means to dive below the surface of everyday experience using our cameras. We hope to inspire all of us to see image-making as a practice of connecting to life in a deeper and richer way.
While our beautiful building on Atwood Ave in Madison, WI is currently closed, our Threshold Wheelhouse captures and re-envisions an online hosting platform for events featuring exceptional performers and presenters, artists, and makers. Help us support these masterful artists as well as helping us sustain and grow our venue which offers them a home and a platform.
If you have any questions, please contact info@atthreshold.com.
*Tickets are priced in two categories that reflect what, we feel, offers more equitable access to this very special series. The higher price range is for photographers who are paying a professional fee. The reduced price is for the non-professional who is curious about ways of deepening their ability to see and to capture images as a contemplative practice. The three price tiers within each of the two categories offer a base price plus added opportunities for generosity towards the artists and organizers and future projects in contemplative photography. Please choose the category and tier that best reflects your ability and considerations. Much gratitude.
Visual Prayers and Celebrating What’s Right with Dewitt Jones
Thursday, August 20, 2:00 p.m. CST
We are constantly surrounded by beauty which is always unfolding from a ground of basic goodness. But there are moments when the ground seems to give way, goodness is hard to find, and beauty seems to fade. In the face of these realities, a dedicated practice of attending to beauty and celebrating what’s right become essential sources of encouragement and inspiration for the darker times.
This has been Dewitt’s work for his entire career. Here are his words: “I've been practicing with my cameras and without them, trying to let my eye resonate with the beauty of all I see around me, whether it's a photograph or not. Just delighting in the light and the line; no need to make a picture, just to say ‘thank you.’ The result, honestly, is that the world has become a lot more beautiful, and my photographs have become visual prayers. That's what they are, moments of gratitude and thanks for the beauty I see around me in the world. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Dewitt Jones is one of America’s top professional photographers. Twenty years with National Geographic, photographing stories around the globe, has earned him the reputation as a world-class photojournalist. Dewitt has directed documentary films and published numerous books. He is recognized as a world-class lecturer and speaks to audiences around the world on creativity and vision. His genuine style and ability to communicate with audiences make his presentations truly outstanding. Dewitt makes his home on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. www.dewittjones.com