Paul Martin Lester © 2011
1
It is said that every journey begins with a first step. Strive to make
your first step a humble one.
2
Your real goal is not to learn
photography but to learn how to live your life.
3
The goal is not to change your
subjects, but for the subject to change the photographer.
4
When you use a camera, not as a
machine but as an extension of your heart, you become one with your subject.
5
The type of photographs you make,
the subjects you single out, reveal the person inside of you. How close you get
to your subjects reveals how close you want to get.
6
Don't ever forget how alien a
machine over a person's face appears. A photographer must be sensitive and
caring so the mechanical act of recording light images is secondary to the
union of spirit with the subject.
7
Don't use photography as an
excuse to separate yourself from what you sense. You are what you see and feel.
Don't be afraid to see with feeling.
8
It is best that a photographer
not simply take a picture. A photographer has a responsibility to share a
visual experience with others by every possible means.
9
A photographer becomes one with
the world. Instead of making a photograph, the experience makes the
photographer.
10
A teacher learns from the
students. Who then is the real teacher/student? If the teacher is the student,
then we are all students learning from each other.
11
Don't be afraid to be a little
crazy. One definition of crazy: distracted with desire or excitement. Yes, I am
crazy.
12
Don't ever get too serious about
what you do. Life is full of joy. Laughter is an outward sign of that joy. Show
me a friend who has a genuine, spontaneous laugh and you've shown me a person
who is close to the truth.
13
Be flexible. Be open to every
idea. They are all one idea. Your idea.
14
A tear contains an ocean. A
photographer is aware of the tiny moments in a person's life that reveal
greater truths.
15
Rules bind the soul. They are for
the intellect. A loving heart has no need of rules.
16
Life is not complicated. The mind
makes life complex. The heart shows the mind that life is simple. Silence your
mind and hear your heart.
17
It is useless to try to seek the
truth. One day, the truth will seek you. When you climb a mountain and reach
the crest, you look below and long for level ground. When you are not looking,
then you will see.
18
We are all on different
schedules. Readiness between individuals is a rare and beautiful event.
19
We all have our own path. We can
all learn from our path through gentle faith.
20
A photographer strives to be
fully aware of every moment and to be one with all others every moment.
21
If you can find pleasure and
laugh at a flat tire on a lonely country road during a late night thunderstorm,
you are close.
22
Any gift that comes from the
heart goes to the heart.
23
What is supposed to happen to you
is happening. Sit back, relax and enjoy. It is that simple. It is that
difficult.
24
If God is loving, how can there
be so much suffering? If you are loving, how can you not embrace suffering?
25
There is no difference between
you and me, far and near, then and now. Enlightenment is a lover's song or a
taxi's horn, a mountain peak or a polluted creek, a distant memory or reading
these words.
26
Since no one can learn unless
ready, the best teacher does not give answers. The best teacher facilitates
questions.
27
Be a real student and take
chances. Live on the edge. Teeter on the brink. Skip on the tightrope. And if
you fall, enjoy the wind on your smiling face.
28
Develop through practice the
energy for being aware. Satori moments are always happening.
29
Even at the risk of looking
foolish and of persons shaking their heads and whispering that you must be
crazy, try new things.
30
You are the creator of your
universe. What you see is an illusion meant to teach you.
31
Seek out and learn from those who
are different. Those who dress colorfully, those who dance to recorded music
while waiting in a grocery store's check-out lane, or
those who eat their dessert first. But remember: the more you know about
people, the more you realize that we are all different.
32
Now is all there is. And it is
because of what has happened to you before.
33
Change is natural. Adaption to
change is also natural. Don't be afraid of change.
34
Make all your choices with your
heart, not your mind. Once a decision is made, use your mind to get to that
place.
35
We are all one. You learn from
all experiences - the good and the bad ones. Once you learn that lesson, there
are no bad experiences, really.
36
Develop the confidence to never
be afraid to be yourself.
37
Watch out for ego. It is always
in the way. If someone says, "You have nice eyes." Reply, "Thank
you. They do the job."
38
Truth is what works for you. It
is no one else's truth but your truth.
39
"Why were you late for
class?" "Karma is karma."
40
I am every thought, every feeling
and every vision I have ever experienced.
41
A total person has equal parts of
feminine and masculine traits. A whole person is able to say, "I am
woman/man enough to let my feminine/masculine qualities show."
42
Answers from the heart are always
simple. It is our mind that makes the answer complex.
43
Life is your art. An open, aware
heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film. Your bright eyes
and easy smile is your museum.
44
Ask yourself,
"Why am I seeing and feeling this? How am I growing? What am I
learning?" Remember: Every coincidence is potentially meaningful. How high
your awareness level is determines how much meaning you get from your world.
Photography can teach you to improve your awareness level.
45
Look at the ruts you've fallen
in. Do something about changing them. Be in touch with your feeling so you will
spontaneously know when and how to change. Don't think too much about it. We
use our minds too much as it is.
46
What is the ultimate reality?
Being fully aware of this and every moment.
47
A photographer does not operate a
camera in order to merely take pictures. Photographic work is always personal.
A photograph reveals the photographer.
48
By knowing a person, you know
yourself. You become the person you photograph. You love that person as you
love yourself.
49
Unless you experience, you cannot
really know.
50
Through constant practice you
will become so skilled technically that you will no longer need to think
consciously of the camera's operation. At that point you will break the machine
wall between you and the person photographed.
51
The type of camera you use for
photography makes no difference. A loving, open heart makes a photograph, not a
camera.
52
Do not concern yourself with the
questions, "What is art?" or "Who is an artist?" Everything
is art. If what you see and do comes from your heart, you are an artist.
53
Everyone is special. Everyone has
something to say and to give. Any person becomes creative when you know
yourself and can release that energy that is uniquely yours.
54
When you experience something,
you learn from it. By learning from it you know that you are like it and it is
like you. Once you discover that connection, you love it as you love yourself.
The oneness is complete through the energy of love. This lesson can be learned
from a flower, a kitten or a cross-country truck driver.
55
You do not think of your feet
when you walk. Likewise, become so accustomed to your camera that its function
becomes an extension of yourself.
56
Children know how to be natural.
Only a child can walk into an empty shopping mall, yell at the silence and play
with the sound of the echo. How old is a child? At what age does the child die?
When a person ceases to act naturally, the child dies.
57
Spontaneity is an instantaneous
decision from the heart.
58
Do not see with just your eyes.
If so, you are simply turning yourself into another machine. See with your
heart and not with your eyes.
59
There is no need to hurry for
there is no goal to run towards. The goal is with you already. You'll miss your
goal if you hurry.
60
Because we let our machines see
for us, we forget how to feel. A machine is never moved by a sunset; a heart
is.
61
By seeing things in terms of what
they are used for, the real meaning is lost. A bicycle is a vehicle. Deeper -
it is a noise. Deeper still - it is yourself.
62
Because we have forgotten to look
with our hearts, we see objects and we make persons into objects that we either
use or avoid. We have the opportunity to make every chance meeting significant
if we have the energy necessary for that appreciation.
63
The energy needed to be
constantly aware comes from love.
64
You need not photograph a thing
to know it. All you need to do is spend time with your full concentration with
the thing, person or emotion. On way is through photography. Another way is by
opening your heart.
65
The past is a learning memory.
The future is a yearning goal. The present is the only moment that exists. You
can stretch that moment out forever if you are constantly aware of every now.
66
No camera, pen or sheet of paper
is needed to feel one with your world. But it is a funny thing. Once you feel
the world's connection with yourself, you find an outlet for expressing that
connection. It may be in photography, poetry, painting, volunteering in a
nursing home, or simply by your bright eyes and smile. You'll find it.
67
The photographic process is so
simple. A gorilla took a picture used on a National Geographic cover. There is
a danger in that photography is so easy. The taking is easy. The feeling is
difficult.
68
I was looking for a teacher and I
found myself.
69
Your equipment does not matter as
long as you are comfortable with it. Comfortable is an important word, It is
the opposite of self-conscious.
70
You must know yourself and your
subject well before you can take a picture. You must become one with it.
71
Every person has a story to tell.
Every person is looking for a caring spirit that will listen.
72
When you know another person as
yourself, you learn from that person. When you feel, all persons are your
teachers.
73
A photograph is just a picture if
it doesn't say anything.
74
The mind makes pictures. The
heart makes photographs.
75
When you begin to care you
realize, as you look in a passersby eyes, we have all experienced the same
tragedies, triumphs and fits of boredom. We all feel the same emotions. We are
all the same person.
76
We are put on the earth to love
and learn.
77
Learning is not an end. It is an
endless process.
78
It is not enough to be a good
photographer. You also need to be a good person who takes pictures.
79
Anything can be practiced. A
guitar piece to a positive way of life. Practice is simply concentrating on a
single action or idea until it no longer exists in your conscious mind.
80
A snapshot, like a sketch, is a
quickly composed image. Both can be important if both communicate the artist's
feelings about the subject.
81
You can only learn when you are
ready to listen.
82
Cavemen drawings reveal a seeing
not hindered by words.
83
Feeling must be the end result -
not a drawing, not a painting, and not a photograph. It is what you learn from
an experience that is important not whether you have something to show.
84
A shutter only clicks quickly
after a sensitive heart has felt the subject a long time.
85
Let your mind make the technical
decisions. Let your heart make the content decisions.
86
Once you learn to care, you can
record images with your mind or on film. There is no difference between the
two.
87
That which matters most is more
than f-stops and lenses, more than pens and papers, more than notes and
strings, more than knives and clay. That which matters most is a child's laugh,
a lover's hug, an open heart.
88
Technology interferes with the
spirit. Machinery suppresses the fun. The mind thwarts the heart.
89
Another word for prana or absolute energy is love.
90
Through photojournalism you learn
that all persons are teachers.
91
A strong ego prevents you from
asking questions. Don't be afraid to look silly. Don't be afraid to learn from
anyone.
92
The truth is in all things.
Weston found truth in a bed pan.
93
Your goal is not to be the best
photographer, the best runner, the best musician, the best writer, or the best
anything. Your goal, if you feel you really need a goal, is to be yourself.
94
There are three phases to
awareness: to look, to see, and to perceive. A camera looks. A mind sees. A
heart perceives.
95
Art is a way of living, of caring, of giving, of loving.
96
You cannot want to be anything.
Either you are or you are not. If you are, you are being your natural self and
peace will come. If you are not, your ego directs your actions and you will
always be disturbed.
97
You can only teach when you are
ready to listen.
98
Love is the bottom line. Love is
the energy in all things. When you feel for another, when you get close to
another, you love that person.
99
Love cannot be diluted or
diminished. It is only how we express love that gives love its various forms.
100
A camera is a hollow tube that
allows free-flowing, inward and outward expressions of
love between a photographer and a subject.