Sitting in Silence

[Asa]

I think @JennyDaniella has solved the whole problem I will think of Nicholas Cage.

 

[Misty]

I think @JennyDaniella has solved the whole problem I will think of Nicholas Cage.

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Not only will that cause your mind to go blank.. but it may also bore you to sleep.. Maybe not so beneficial for shooting.

I have horrid problems stopping my thought storms.. even to sleep. 0.0 So I can only lend advice from a shooters perspective. The forest is so great, isn't it? I like to shoot the trees & sky, so I try to see my frame like a painting. In other words - try sitting quietly and imagining the scene you would like to shoot.. before the subject even comes into the frame. This is a technique I, and many street shooters employ.

Sometimes when we, esp infj types, put a lot of pressure on ourselves to clear our minds, to fall asleep, etc etc etc, we only wind up with an even busier mind and much more "stress" than we had before trying too hard to clear our minds.

So maybe... just for kicks you could try letting your imagination go, instead of trying to silence it, and in doing so you might actually find you are emmiting more "peaceful vibes" than you would be stressing over being perfectly still in mind & spirit.. thereby more naturally becoming.. well, at peace?

It's a longshot, pardon the pun, but you could at least once give it a shot..

On a serious note I'd love to see your work, one day!

 

[Asa]

@MistyWrites – Thank you <3 I appreciate your suggestions.

I shoot a lot of landscapes and nature photos, as well as dogs and horses.
There are glacial erratics here that make fantastic subjects. I'd like to photograph animals. They're more special to me.

I did come up with a solution for this the other day that is a bit like your suggestion.

You're right, maybe going with the flow and letting my brain do it's thing is better than fighting against it. Though, I don't want to be too lost in my thoughts in case a bear comes along. I'm also wary of moose, though I really, really want to see one. My SO has seen two, and I've never seen one in the wild.


The season is arriving. Fox and bob cat mommas will be out looking for food to feed their young. In the late summer and early fall the young ones gain more independence, but are still a bit clueless, so sometimes I see them drinking out of puddles, or sauntering around, even if I'm with dogs.

The other day we were in the forest with horses and in the perfect location to see a moose: a remote clearing with selectively cut trees and low new growth and shrubs. Two of us were extroverts and chattering away, so that scared off the wildlife for 'miles'. LOL.

 

[Misty]

@MistyWrites – Thank you <3 I appreciate your suggestions.

I shoot a lot of landscapes and nature photos, as well as dogs and horses.
There are glacial erratics here that make fantastic subjects. I'd like to photograph animals. They're more special to me.

I did come up with a solution for this the other day that is a bit like your suggestion.

You're right, maybe going with the flow and letting my brain do it's thing is better than fighting against it. Though, I don't want to be too lost in my thoughts in case a bear comes along. I'm also wary of moose, though I really, really want to see one. My SO has seen two, and I've never seen one in the wild.


The season is arriving. Fox and bob cat mommas will be out looking for food to feed their young. In the late summer and early fall the young ones gain more independence, but are still a bit clueless, so sometimes I see them drinking out of puddles, or sauntering around, even if I'm with dogs.

The other day we were in the forest with horses and in the perfect location to see a moose: a remote clearing with selectively cut trees and low new growth and shrubs. Two of us were extroverts and chattering away, so that scared off the wildlife for 'miles'. LOL.

Yeah.. the bear / moose population sounds like tele-lens work, indeed! Good idea to not zone out too far into head time that you become bear breakfast..

Eek! I don't run fast enough for all that. 0.0

I'd love to see some of your work sometime. You should post some in here someday.

 

[Asa]

@MistyWrites – I will share what I come up with for my new idea. I'm also working on a documentary video of hundreds of photo journalist style photos I've taken for decades. I'll send you the link when I complete it.

I've wavered back and forth with photography. Right now I don't have much up on my website. I worked as a professional printer before digital took over. I was the mural printer for color and cibachrome, and then the black and white printer. Name a famous magazine photog from the 90s and early 00s and we likely had them as clients, sometimes exclusively. I haven't invested in gear and put most of my...errr... focus on illustrating and painting. I've decided to see what I can do this season. If I meet my expectations I'll invest in a Sony mirrorless. I shoot with an EOS.

Here is something I took for a project where I manipulate images. (And by that I mean mirror them, but I specifically look for something interesting to mirror and crop accordingly.) I didn't add anything. I just dodged and burned to accentuate what was there. I also purposely pint dark and sometimes hazy because I like my images to be on the Goth side.

 

[Misty]

@MistyWrites – I will share what I come up with for my new idea. I'm also working on a documentary video of hundreds of photo journalist style photos I've taken for decades. I'll send you the link when I complete it.

I've wavered back and forth with photography. Right now I don't have much up on my website. I worked as a professional printer before digital took over. I was the mural printer for color and cibachrome, and then the black and white printer. Name a famous magazine photog from the 90s and early 00s and we likely had them as clients, sometimes exclusively. I haven't invested in gear and put most of my...errr... focus on illustrating and painting. I've decided to see what I can do this season. If I meet my expectations I'll invest in a Sony mirrorless. I shoot with an EOS.

Here is something I took for a project where I manipulate images. (And by that I mean mirror them, but I specifically look for something interesting to mirror and crop accordingly.) I didn't add anything. I just dodged and burned to accentuate what was there. I also purposely pint dark and sometimes hazy because I like my images to be on the Goth side.

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Wahh!!! Loving it! I too tried my hand a few times only though.. with a mirroring manipulation, minus the dodging & burning. I will post it here below.

That shot of yours is fantastic!! Me likey..

PS.. I started in college, fine art major for photography with a 35mm Canon eos, then moved to Nikon dslr, but fx, not dx. This month after some saving and price stalking.. I finally made my leap to Sony mirrorless, Sony A7 fx line! You will NOT regret it! Fantastic camera!! I'm officially in love...

Long exposure - Forest tree branches mirrored:

 

[Asa]

Gorgeous!!! <3 The images are so ethereal.

Thank you.

A friend shoots with a Sony and says the same. I'm excited to try a mirrorless!
My favorite 35mm film camera was an old Nikon F3, but a (photojournalist) friend dropped it. POP! Ugh!
I learned on a Canon AE-1 and my dad got me an EOS for graduation, so when I went digital I decided to stick with Canon because the glass was compatible.
When we moved I sold everything except my Mamiya 645 (lovely paperweight that it is now), my first EOS film camera, and the digi I use now.

I've followed your blog through the years, though I didn't interact much, and I love your work in general. You take beautiful images.

 

[Misty]

Gorgeous!!! <3 The images are so ethereal.

Thank you.

A friend shoots with a Sony and says the same. I'm excited to try a mirrorless!
My favorite 35mm film camera was an old Nikon F3, but a (photojournalist) friend dropped it. POP! Ugh!
I learned on a Canon AE-1 and my dad got me an EOS for graduation, so when I went digital I decided to stick with Canon because the glass was compatible.
When we moved I sold everything except my Mamiya 645 (lovely paperweight that it is now), my first EOS film camera, and the digi I use now.

I've followed your blog through the years, though I didn't interact much, and I love your work in general. You take beautiful images.

Daww.. Thanks, secret admirer! I wish I knew you were a shooter too.. could have badgered you long ago to see your work.

Good thinking sticking with Canon back then, as good glass collections aren't cheap to come by or easy to part with. Sony.. ur gonna love it. I'm sure of it.

Put that link in my blog or tag me in yours once your site is done, & I'll do the same! Looking very forward to seeing it, Asa.

PS.. that printing job sounds like it was sorta epic..

 

[Asa]

I will. <3 Thank you for your support.

It was.








PS: When I began working there the workers had a joke about how dark room workers talk to themselves. I thought it was a hilarious exaggeration. I learned it was spot-on. As a darkroom worker you're in solitary confinement all day long 8-14hr a day, and we all talked to ourselves. Mostly, we talked back to our radios. (Everyone listened to NPR.) What a bizarre life.

 

[Misty]

I will. <3 Thank you for your support.

It was.

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PS: When I began working there the workers had a joke about how dark room workers talk to themselves. I thought it was a hilarious exaggeration. I learned it was spot-on. As a darkroom worker you're in solitary confinement all day long 8-14hr a day, and we all talked to ourselves. Mostly, we talked back to our radios. (Everyone listened to NPR.) What a bizarre life.

Wows.... Amazing, Asa!

I would have fit right in... I miss the darkroom & I still talk to myself. o.0

 

[Asa]

I would have fit right in... I miss the darkroom & I still talk to myself. o.0

Yes, you would have!

And LOL.

 

[ClevelandINTP]

Can we let our brains go?

The brain fog that comes with my condition(?) has taught me a little of what that may be like and I don't like it.




Thank you for your lovely post. I agree. I just can't do that for lengthy periods of time yet.




Yes, it is helpful! I understand what you mean.



Thank you for your input, Cleveland. What you are saying is train, just like training for a sport, correct? I do hike, run, etc, daily without headphones, and without conversation. In the forest you need to pay attention to your surroundings, so I do that, but I do it in balance with "thought". Like many artists and writers, my best ideas come to me while walking in the forest. If I follow your directions and practice daily, I will probably get to the point where I can sit still for an hour of using Se.

Yeah, that’s a good way to think of it

It’s kind of like “easing” your way into non-movement

Have to learn to walk before you learn to sit

 

[ClevelandINTP]

Also, it might be easier to sit in silence if you’re physically tired

It removes a barrier to stillness so to speak

 

[Asa]

Also, it might be easier to sit in silence if you’re physically tired

It removes a barrier to stillness so to speak

True that.

 

[just me]

My doctor asked me to try mindfulness meditation, and stated the one from UCLA was good. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllrighty.

 

[John K]

Dear INFJ forum,

Please help me learn to sit in silence. Being quiet - not talking and being alone - is easy. Being silent and present with a peaceful heart is not.
Can you do this? Have fellow Ne/Ni doms mastered this? What are your methods?

I live in the forest and I want to become a wildlife photographer. This means I will need to wander into the woods and sit in silence, mindfully listening and watching the forest around me for hours. I have always practiced a sort of "lost in Ni, cranking up Se" balance in the forest. It is a place to think, get lost in deep thought, and simultaneously stay alert. If I want to capture wildlife I must stay alert, but also quiet.

More than this, I need to cultivate peacefulness.

Animals are often drawn to me and pick me out as a person to get close to, but not always, and wild animals are, of course, afraid. My INFP friend who is a wildlife photographer seems to have a peacefulness about him that earns trust. The animals know he won't harm them. While my mind is whirring, it seems that I am incapable of presenting this kind of peacefulness, but I think meditation will take me away from the present moment I need to be in to be ready to click the shutter.

I've started wandering the forest without my dogs. (Today was the day because if I hadn't had my dogs yesterday, I would have seen a moose!) Today I set up some trail cams in spots I know wildlife travel. I sat in the woods for about half an hour, listening to the birds, listening to the faint jingle of the bell on my neighbor's dog's collar far in the distance, listening to the logging equipment many miles away, listening to every crack and snap of branches. After a while I noticed an owl feather. (I laughed at myself for my big picture brain that sometimes takes a little while to notice small details.)

Sometimes when I'm in the forest and my dogs and I sit down it is so quiet I can hear my own heartbeat from the outside of my body. Thu-thump, thu-thump. Today was louder, but still so quiet, and I wonder how anything ever 'sneaks' in the forest.

I gave up because there were no fresh tracks, which meant the likelihood that an animal would come by was slimmer (plus, my dogs were in these woods two days ago and that always frightens the animals off for a bit), because I had to be somewhere at noon, and because being present in the moment is something I prefer to do in short bursts. I really prefer to be lost in my head.

Fascinating question ASA. I don’t have a clear answer but just a few thoughts ....

Where is your emphasis of intent? Is it in successful wildlife pictures or in your spiritual development? I know a good Ni answer would be both, but I’m asking from a practical rather than an eschatological perspective.

If it’s the latter, then you are on a long road to the kind of mental state that comes in the later stages of Zen, for example. The descriptions of these hint at an absolute clarity of being present in the world. Alternatively, and maybe more practically, I believe there are yoga meditation techniques such as in Raja Yoga that aim at developing awareness and concentration, rather than the currently popular mindfulness.

If it’s the former, then you may need to compromise and sacrifice some of your hunger for engaged presence in order to capture your images. As an analogy, I have to drive in a slightly edgy way for safety’s sake. If I drive in too relaxed a way, I lose attention and drift off with the fairies, but I stay firmly engaged with the road if I’m pushing it a little bit. It isn’t a completely comfortable experience and it tires me, but it works.

It may be that you have to be a little uncomfortable to stay alert - being constantly on the lookout for bears sounds good, but a bit primeval lol. Or maybe position yourself in a tree overlooking a favoured animal track or watering place, or somewhere else that isn’t completely comfortable. Another possibility is to team up with someone else - could more than double the chances of staying alert, though increases the risk of frightening off the creatures. Yet again, could you use some kind of electronic trigger to alert you of movement around you, or even take some pictures automatically?

I’ve pushed these two perspectives a bit to try and explore separately the two different goals that seem to be contained in the questions you raised. I’m not sure if the specifics are any use in themselves, but they do sketch out the ideas. It might be that in following these as distinct paths at first, until you are at home with both, they will suddenly lead to a moment when you realise they have melded.

 

[Asa]

Thank you, @John K


First: I wish I'd made the title of this thread broader to include forest bathing, forest meditation, and walking in the woods.
Walking in the woods is/was the habit of many great writers because their best ideas come/came to them while walking. I relate to this.

I'll add some articles on these topics to give people more to relate to, inspiration, etc.

----

Thank you for the driving analogy. I actually suck at driving, so it is good advice for both the road and, perhaps, the forest.

I am definitely looking for successful wildlife pictures. This isn't spiritual. I've used the forest for "spirituality" all my life, and Ni/Ti/Se reign when I'm doing that. (Fe isn't needed.) I believe that "be present" spiritual mentality works for Sensors, but is not natural for Intuitives. The way I find spirituality is not forcing something unnatural. Walking or sitting in the woods and letting Ni/Ti/Se work is my spirituality. Just being in the woods, or even in my garden, is fulfilling in that way. Letting my brain be itself very deeply works for me, too. So, that isn't the problem.

Or, rather, it is the problem because the forest has always been where I go to be myself – uninterrupted and without outside influence. I can be that quiet, introverted, ni-dom thinker and feeler who notices things, but doesn't have to bend or put on behaviors to accommodate.

What you said about driving is more to the point, but being on edge doesn't work. I believe animals can sense a person's energy. They may be reading physiological cues, or they may be using a sense akin to intuition, but they do it. So, this is why I want to learn to be calm and alert at the same time.

I do know the best hours, best weather conditions, and that photographers should camp out near fresh tracks.


Yesterday I took the dogs out a second time in the late afternoon and we walked through the woods instead of along the trails. (I try to bring them on a different route daily because my male dog gets bored and mopes if things get too routine.) I climbed on top of a glacial erratic, they happily followed, and we sat quietly in the woods for a long time. It was the most successful I've been at this so far, except that I was with my dogs.

 

[John K]

Thank you, @John K


First: I wish I'd made the title of this thread broader to include forest bathing, forest meditation, and walking in the woods.
Walking in the woods is/was the habit of many great writers because their best ideas come/came to them while walking. I relate to this.

I'll add some articles on these topics to give people more to relate to, inspiration, etc.

----

Thank you for the driving analogy. I actually suck at driving, so it is good advice for both the road and, perhaps, the forest.

I am definitely looking for successful wildlife pictures. This isn't spiritual. I've used the forest for "spirituality" all my life, and Ni/Ti/Se reign when I'm doing that. (Fe isn't needed.) I believe that "be present" spiritual mentality works for Sensors, but is not natural for Intuitives. The way I find spirituality is not forcing something unnatural. Walking or sitting in the woods and letting Ni/Ti/Se work is my spirituality. Just being in the woods, or even in my garden, is fulfilling in that way. Letting my brain be itself very deeply works for me, too. So, that isn't the problem.

Or, rather, it is the problem because the forest has always been where I go to be myself – uninterrupted and without outside influence. I can be that quiet, introverted, ni-dom thinker and feeler who notices things, but doesn't have to bend or put on behaviors to accommodate.

What you said about driving is more to the point, but being on edge doesn't work. I believe animals can sense a person's energy. They may be reading physiological cues, or they may be using a sense akin to intuition, but they do it. So, this is why I want to learn to be calm and alert at the same time.

I do know the best hours, best weather conditions, and that photographers should camp out near fresh tracks.


Yesterday I took the dogs out a second time in the late afternoon and we walked through the woods instead of along the trails. (I try to bring them on a different route daily because my male dog gets bored and mopes if things get too routine.) I climbed on top of a glacial erratic, they happily followed, and we sat quietly in the woods for a long time. It was the most successful I've been at this so far, except that I was with my dogs.

I rather thought it was more to do with successful photos. Yes I used edginess in driving as an example rather than a suggestion. I find other things concentrate me in the present for extended time too such as excitement or interest - like in a film or book.

 

[John K]

Sorry I’m on my iPhone and it posted before I’d finished- more Se mishaps

I wonder if there is anything like that you could find in the immediate stake out environment.

 

[John K]

Sorry I’m on my iPhone and it posted before I’d finished- more Se mishaps

I wonder if there is anything like that you could find in the immediate stake out environment.

Like identifying and recording birdsong at the same time for example - where there is likely to be more activity from moment to moment to keep you focused.
Sorry this is fragmented. I’m wandering around Scarborough Castle grounds at the moment