If dogs could fly…

“my doggy consciousness”

Right now I have two photographers inside me  – Scooter Shooter, my alter ego who rides a scooter photographing life on the streets, and a more considered photographer who attempts to create photos more mindfully. Sometimes Scooter Shooter also remembers to be mindful, but I have to admit he’ll often shoot first and contemplate later on in the edit.

When I fall into this trap, my mind can turn into what one Buddhist master calls “doggy consciousness”. The main symptom of doggy consciousness is concentration that flaps around like the pigeons in this photo.

“doggy consciousness”

 

I’m hoping to integrate my two photographic “egos” this year. Firstly, I’ve begun a project for days when I can’t leave the house due to MND disability. I’ll be capturing fragments of each day as they unfold moment by moment. The winter has given me the opportunity to make a good start as the cold often makes me too stiff to get outside on my scooter.

Scooter Shooter will be out again soon though, taking street photographs but also  trying to develop his “beginner’s eye” to see things afresh with mindfulness. Keep following both Mindful Photos and Scooter Shooter to see how things go.

Meanwhile here are some other canine captures of mine. Enjoy.

words and pictures © Miles Pilling

 

Miles Pilling began “Mindful Photos” in April 2013. In August of the same year he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (known as ALS in the US). Now almost unable to walk, he uses mindfulness, meditation and photography as ways of staying in touch with the beauty in the everyday. He takes most of his photos from the seat of a TravelScoot mobility scooter using Olympus mirrorless cameras and a Ricoh GR compact.