Photography as a Spiritual Practice
a mini-course offered by Eileen D. Crowley, PhD
  • Home
  • Reflections
    • "Receive the light..."
    • "Normal mysticism"
    • "Everyday mystics"
    • "Cultivating gratitude"
    • "Wonder and awe"
    • "Take a hike"
  • Open-Eyes Prayers
    • Resurrecting God
    • Dancing God
    • Rock of Ages
    • Gardener God
    • Peace-giving God
    • Moonrise Magesty
  • Participant Comments
  • Tutorials

"Here's lookin' at you, Kid"

My Havanese dog, Ricky, gets me out in the world...even when I don't feel like going outside. Often, because he stops so much on our walks, he is the reason I see something I had not previously noticed. In that way, he is my "seeing-eye" dog.Learning how to see, really see, what is around us wherever we may be takes practice. It takes being mindful. Doing photography with that kind of intentionality -- being open to glimpses of grace in the world -- is the spiritual practice I enjoy teaching and that is the focus of this course.

This mini-course is not a typical photography course. It's an introduction to a process that -- while you are doing photography -- will encourage you to "see" differently, to "receive the light" by opening yourself up to the Spirit moving within you and all of creation, and to share what you discover with others in a small group process.

Thank you for joining  this adventure!

Eileen D. Crowley
         ecrowley@ctu.edu
         www.eileendcrowley.weebly.com

Our small-group process

Usually, a small group is effective when it has 8-12 people participating ... just enough to gather around a big table. This size group allows everyone a chance to speak when we meet face-to-face. Ours will be a holy conversation around the experience of making and sharing images. Our small group process trusts that the Holy Spirit is with us at every stage. Over the course of our weeks together we will improve our photography skills. More importantly, though, through practicing the art of photography we will simultaneously be practicing the art of spiritual and theological reflection. Our reflections will arise naturally from the experience of taking and contemplating our photographs.

Each week before we meet in person around that table...
   1) Participants will do photography in response to the reading and the assignment given, and a "Reflection" on this site. Plan to spend about an hour each week, whether all at one time or in smaller chunks of time over the course of the week;
   2) Each group member uploads 5-7 images online into our group SmugMug gallery ... in advance of our face-to-face gathering. This will give everyone a chance to see each other's images on their high resolution computer screens or tablets.

When we meet, we will look at these images again in silence. Those viewing the images will share what the image evokes in them. Then the person whose images they are will share what she or he discovered in the process of "receiving" those images.

We will close by giving thanks for the Light thus shared with our "Open-Eyes Prayers."

Online resources

Although we will be using Bryan Peterson's Learning To See Creatively: Design, Color & Composition in Photography, revised edition (NY: Amphoto Books, 2003)  as our textbook, dozens of websites offer basic tips on photography in general, on using a digital Single Lens Reflex camera (dSLR), and on using an iPhone as your camera.

Below is a document that will provide you with links to some of these websites. Explore as you wish. Some are in the form of blogs, others in the form of video tutorials. If you like one, you might find that the person who created it has other ones on other topics.

Enjoy!
photography_resources_4-28-13.pdf
File Size: 123 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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What difference can this small-group faith formation process make?

Rev. Michelle Sevig, associate pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, participated in the Photography as a Spiritual Practice group hosted by her church in the weeks following Easter 2013. She gave a report on the course, entitled "Visio Divina,"  in her church's e-newsletter. It included some of the images created by other Holy Trinity photographers. As the mini-course came to a close, Michelle also shared her experience of this small-group process with church members during a sermon she gave on May 5, 2013.    (Photo by Julie Sevig)

Here is an excerpt:   
                                                                             
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Photography as Spiritual Practice…I was intrigued by the title and the concept when Eileen Crowley first pitched it to us. I love taking photos—lots of them, and I consider myself to have a good eye, and come up with some pretty decent photos. But a spiritual practice? I wasn’t sure what she meant, but I was certainly curious and eager to discover how doing something I love could help me be “more spiritual.”

Each Thursday morning our class gathers in a circle to look at each other’s photos and share comments and reflections. The photography assignments help us learn to be intentionally creative and take aesthetically pleasing photos –paying attention to form, line, texture, pattern or color. In addition to the photography assignment Eileen invites us to focus on the glimpses of grace we notice as we pay attention to such details. “Where is God in this photo,” she asks, or “How did you experience gratitude, grace or
wonder as the photographer?” Last week we looked specifically for
glimpses of grace, and this week we’re to photograph images that represent our callings to be God’s presence in the world.

I’ve been empowered through this class to open my eyes and notice what I might have easily dismissed or ignored in the past. Focusing on the detail has inspired me to become aware of the holy in more ways than I ever imagined possible. Now, when I am really present and paying attention, I can see a picture within a picture, receive light in unexpected dark places, and give thanks to God for the glimpses of grace in everyday scenes.

Most of the time it’s difficult to be so fully present in the moment and notice what’s going on around me. Maybe you’ve experienced the same frustration—too busy, or too focused on the past or the future to fully appreciate the joy, or even sorrow, that’s happening right now...
..
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Eileen D. Crowley, Ph.D., was Associate Professor
of Liturgy, Arts, and Communications at Catholic Theological
Union in Chicago, Illinois, USA, from 2004 to 2020. She taught in
multiple areas of worship, arts, and communication.
She is committed to empowering people to create art
together as a spiritual practice that will enrich them
and their faith communities.
"Photography as a Spiritual Practice"
is a website designed to support small groups in faith communities whose members want to learn more about photography and
to glimpse more frequently God's grace in the world around them.

(c) Copyright 2013, Eileen D. Crowley
Unless otherwise indicated, all photos on this site are hers.