At the top of the first chapter of meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg’s book Loving Kindness are two words – “only connect”. Taken from the epitaph of E. M. Forster’s famous novel Howards End, they sum up just what mindfulness practice and Loving Kindness are all about. It’s also what any half decent photographer tries to do as well, but I often wonder whether putting a lens between the observer and the observed brings us closer or actually divorces us from reality. In the past I’ve worked as a news cameraman and I know that being behind a lens helped distance me mentally from situations that as a layperson would have totally freaked me out.

Here’s a slightly tongue in cheek picture I took of some people at a literary festival for whom the theme of communication didn’t seem to have quite got through.

I hope it connects in some way with you.

words and pictures © all rights reserved Miles Pilling