Enrollment for this Practice Group is now closed. Check again in summer for our next registration.

For the past seven years, a community of people at all skill levels have been gathering at SpiritualityandPractice.com to explore contemplative photography together. Participants create photos in response to a weekly theme we provide. The atmosphere is one of acceptance, encouragement, and delight in the wonders that this artistic medium opens for us. Everyone is welcome, whether you've been in the group for years or are just discovering this opportunity today.

In our article "The Spiritual Gifts of Photography" we note that those of us on a spiritual path find it easy to honor and appreciate photography as a way of seeing the world with fresh eyes. We quote novelist Henry Miller: "The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself." And American photographer Dorothy Norman said: "In all my photographic work, my aim was to achieve the honesty of the form, to be true to the thing itself. . . . My satisfaction came from the wonder of being able to capture moments that matter to me." That has indeed been the experience in our Contemplative Photographers groups over the years.

This year (August 7, 2022, through July 30, 2023) will be our 8th group. We are going to revisit the themes from Year 2 and Year 5, suggested by Patricia Campbell Carlson, then our Program Director and now an editor and Children's Book Reviewer. In the Practice Group, you can post your own photos and offer supportive feedback to others. We also hope you will share your own process. How do you prepare for a contemplative photography session? What makes the experience contemplative for you? What tips can you offer each other? This will give anyone new to the group a chance to start at the foundation, and it gives everyone who has been faithfully participating a chance to observe how time and circumstances change how we see.

Our weekly emails, beginning on August 7, will include a suggestion of what you might photograph and often a quote to inspire you. Occasionally, we will put out a call for photo submissions for projects on the Spirituality & Practice website. The Practice Group will be largely self-monitoring, with technical support available from S&P.

We believe this is a marvelous opportunity for community building at S&P, and to encourage deep and growing relationships among the members of the Practice Group, we will open enrollment to new people only twice a year. This way, participants will have six months to get to know each other and each other's photography in a steady way. We hope and expect that most people will choose to remain in the Practice Group community for years.

The first membership enrollment period for Year 8 will be July 15 - September 13, 2022.
The second membership enrollment period will be December 23 - February 4, 2023.

We are charging a membership fee of $52 for the Practice Group. Those who join the group during the second membership enrollment period will pay the same fee, because they will have access in their account at S&P to all the prompts that have been mailed and all the posts in the Practice Group since August.

If you're curious, please check out these galleries created from actual themes/suggestions and particpants offerings:

Contemplative Photography Group Gallery 1 - Contemplative Photographs
Contemplative Photography Group Gallery 2 - Circles, Lines and Curves
Contemplative Photography Group Gallery 3 - Sunrise/Sunset

Contemplative Photography Group Gallery 4 - Confusion or Chaos?
Contemplative Photography Group Gallery 5 - Patterns in Nature
Contemplative Photography Group Gallery 6 - Gateways

To sign up, click on "Subscribe" below.

Sunday, August 7

$52.00

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