Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

Along with running and cycling, photography has long been a passion of mine, and one that has developed over the last few years, in tandem with my practice. On a recent trip I managed to get my only camera wet enough for it to stop functioning, so I am currently without a way to take pictures.
On one level this has been very helpful, in that it has allowed me to catch up with the several thousand photographs that I had taken since the middle of September – the last days at Tassajara, post-fire scenes at Jamesburg, many walks through the city, some photo-shoots at Zen Center – and to get them all organised, filed and backed-up.
Right now though, I am noticing so many things I would like to capture in a photograph: the angle of light on an otherwise unremarkable building; a child playing in the grass in the Panhandle; low afternoon sun illuminating a tree in Golden Gate Park; the midday clarity of Ocean Beach, dotted with bobbing surfers in the low tide.
While I feel the pang of not having the opportunity to take these photographs, and many others besides,  these moments can still enliven me, when I allow my attention and my presence to meet what is there; the joy of that meeting, and that beauty, even as I let it go, fuels me going forward.

Where light and shade meet – at Fox Plaza on Market Street