Skip to main content
Center for Action and Contemplation

Contemplative Art

Jenna Keiper, Images/Saturday Practices

The Contemplative Art of Photography

From nearly the very beginning, the Daily Meditations emails have included an image at the top. I create and produce photo and video work here at the CAC, and this year — inspired by Thomas Merton’s photography— the Creative team experimented with contemplative photography. Starting with photos from Merton’s archives, we proceeded through “just this” moments found in documentary work of the Great Depression, The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, DOCUMERICA images from the 1970s, and modern photographers. I often wonder: Is there a meditative state that people enter when creating images like this?  

We often think of the phrase “just this” (from Richard Rohr’s book of the same title) or “this-ness” when we create or curate audiovisual work. For me, to see is to receive the moment just as it is. Where do we find rest and stillness in everyday moments? How do we let these moments captivate us and inform how we visually communicate with others?  

Opening to “This-ness”

After gathering a month’s worth of potential images, I review and discuss them with Leslye Colvin. Which photo for which week and why? What does the image say to us about the week’s theme? The richness of our discussions, informed by our identities and life experiences, never fails to broaden my perspective. The essence of our conversations contributes to each “Image Inspiration” at the end of each meditation. We hope those brief sentences help readers understand the “why” behind an image choice. 

Another Way of Knowing

I also create the 1-minute audiovisual meditations that go along with the Saturday practices. I’m a dancer and a multimedia artist, so, while I love words, I sometimes need another way of knowing to reach my deepest places. My brain can become overwhelmed by black and white lines on pages, and I wonder: where is all the space and color? Or the sound of wind?  In this way I let the Saturday practice wash over me. I listen for the images and sounds that best communicate its essence.  

Join Our Email Community

Stay up to date on the latest news and happenings from the Center for Action and Contemplation.


HTML spacer