The Zen of Photography: How to Take Pictures With Your Mind's Camera [Paperback]

Paul Lester PhD (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2000

The Zen of Photography: How to Take Pictures with your Mind's Camera is a collection of 100 sayings that the author has written over a 25 year period. By merging the study of photography and the study of Zen philosophy, one learns to use a camera a way of connecting more fully with the world. Consequently, a camera is not used as a wall between what is seen and what is experienced, but is a tool that serves to unite the photographer with what is experienced through the photographic process. This book teaches that photography is much more than f-stops, shutter speed and aperture settings, film choices, and camera purchases. If photography were merely a technical operation, robots could take great pictures. Learning is about readiness. Because you are a loving, thinking person who found this book, you want to be inspired to elevate your picture taking to a level in which you learn from the moments you observe and teach others to be moved by those moments. This book is ready for you.AUTHOR BIO:Paul Martin Lester is a Professor of Communications at California State University, Fullerton. After an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and employment as a photojournalist for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. Lester received a Master's from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. from Indiana University in mass communications. He is the author or editor of seven books.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Paul Martin Lester is a Professor of Communications at California State University, Fullerton. After as undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and employment as a photojournalist for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. Lester received a Master's from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. from Indiana University in mass communications. He is the author and editor of seven books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (April 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595097820
• ISBN-13: 978-0595097821
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,920,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars a not so inspiring book, February 3, 2001

By 

ROBERTO (MIAMI, FL 33181- 1137, FLORIDA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Zen of Photography: How to Take Pictures With Your Mind's Camera (Paperback)

I'm really disappointed about this book. I am already a photographer, an admirer of the zen life style (a very humble practitioner), and of course a reader of books about these themes. I expected this one would be a further motivating lecture to increase my horizons, but... This is a real example about how words like "zen", "open mind", "satori" and so on, can be poorly used, trying to capture readers through a beautiful title and a promise of taking pictures with "the mind's camera". First of all, the author says in the Introduction: "I understand that my message will only be heard by those people who are ready to listen and those who already know. For those who do not listen and will not know, read on with an open heart". A serious author can not condition readers from the very start. At the end of each book, each reader will take hia/her own conclutions. My heart was open, and I am a guy who like to learn of each and every little things. But it is not enough to write a few words in a white background to make it sound something "humble" or "zen". Employing the words of the Masters, does not make anyone a Master, and this book is not the exception. It could have as much as twenty pages, considering that the same ideas are repeated once and again along the one hundred pages. "Trying to be one with..." is as nonsense as "¡Be spontaneous!". Maybe the intention was good, but sometimes a Professor of Communications can teach a lot from the silence.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars "0" would be a more appropriate rating!, March 27, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Zen of Photography: How to Take Pictures With Your Mind's Camera (Paperback)

This small book contains 100 useless sayings, each on it's own page. Here's a good example ---- #78 "It is not good enough to be a good photographer. You also need to be a good person who takes pictures." PUH .... LEEZE! Save your money, save some trees and look at some [alternative] for inspiration.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worthless drivel, March 12, 2002

By 

David R. Bailey (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Zen of Photography: How to Take Pictures With Your Mind's Camera (Paperback)

This book is more a collection of empty platitudes (and generous whitespace) than any kind of substantive guide to improving your photography. Truly, it's not about photography -- or even the art of seeing -- at all. Not even any pictures. Sheesh. See "Tao of Photography" by Gross & Shapiro instead -- it's fully of nicely reproduced classic images that are well chosen to illustrate the (much more substantial) points made in the text.