|
Kyodo is the Japanese martial art of archery. Kyūdō is practiced in different schools and styles. Contemplative schools teach the form as a meditation in action. There are several steps in the process, aiming at aligning the person, the body and the mind, the bow, and utltimately the target. The process of getting aligned, of reaching unity and harmony, the beauty of the gesture, are what makes you reach the target.
Photography involves all senses, starting by the contact and the grip of the camera, the body "dance" to position yourself in space, listening, smelling to appreciate the environment you are in. Henri Cartier-bresson, who described himself as buddhist, once referred to Kyodo, as an analogy of his photographic practice. |
Occasionally, I experiment taking photos in a way inspired from Kyodo. I try to get a myself aligned with the environment, simultaneously opening each sense. It starts from the place I stand in, a forest for instance, listening to the birds singing or a car running far away, capturing the smell of leaves, feeling the chilly air on my skin and the ground under my feet, my crooked backbone, looking at branches slowly dancing in the wind, a late coffee taste in my mouth.... As the mind get empty, comes an indicible feeling, and I press the button, not even focusing in the viewfinder. The result does not matter. It is about presence, here and now. Consequently, the set of pictures does not constitute a project. These are traces of my practice and presence.
|
