HIghly Commended Finalist in the 2012 Share the View International Photography Contest

I am pleased to announce that my photograph Vervet Eating Flowers was just awarded highly commended finalist in the 2012 Share the View International Photography Contest sponsored by the Audubon Society of Greater Denver.  This photograph was taken on my trip to Kenya this past summer in Tsavo East.  It was so much fun watching this monkey stuff his mouth full of flowers. As soon as he reached for this one, he created such a perfect composition that I knew it would look like a painting. I am very honored to have received this award. The photograph will be posted on their website soon.

When I saw this monkey eating flowers with such delight, I realized he was fully in the moment in a most indulgent and perfect way.  It brought to mind a story that Mark Nepo told in Estes Park at the Wake Up Festival and which he also recounted in The Book of Awakening.  The story goes like this:  "It is said that a great Zen teacher asked an initiate to sit by a stream until he heard all the water had to teach.  After days of bending his mind around the scene, a small monkey happened by, and, in one seeming bound of joy, splashed about in the stream.  The initiate wept and returned to his teacher, who scolded him lovingly.  'The monkey heard.  You just listened.'"

Vervet Eating Flowers @ Lynne Buchanan

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At the Darkest Moment Comes the Light

Full Moon over Zabriske Point @ Lynne Buchanan

                                           Images watermarked by Digimarc, All Rights Reserved

Morning Glow Death Valley @ Lynne Buchanan

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Sunrise, Death Valley @ Lynne Buchanan

Images watermarked by Digimarc, All Rights Reserved

I just returned from photographing in Death Valley, the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, and Joshua Tree National Monument.  It was a fantastic trip that began on this incredible first day. I woke up very early and got to Zabriske point an hour or so before sunrise, before any other photographers arrived.  The moon was full and there were incredible magenta clouds in the rich bluish purple sky.  A system in California was causing clouds to form and drift over the valley, though the rings of mountains broke them up enough that it never rained during the five days I was there.  That morning I witnessed the most magical predawn display of light and color I have ever seen.  Once I was lucky enough to catch an incredible sunrise in Puerto Rico where the entire sky turned orange and gold, but I have never seen anything like this when it was still so dark... I sat and watched the transformation of the sky in wonder, taking in every subtle shift in color or slight movement of the clouds.   Being present with the spectacular skies all alone on that quiet morning in the cool air brought hope back into my heart.  2012  has been a tumultuous year in my yoga community and in my home.  Much of my world has been shaken up and broken apart and sometimes I have felt like a dark cloud is hanging over everything.  I have always been a glass half full person, so acknowledging darkness is sometimes difficult for me.  Yet we all have our shadow sides and sometimes the world seems to go through troublesome shifts too that come when the collective shadow side of our societies rises up .  Watching the full moon light up in the sky in one direction and the flaming orange of the sun's rays begin to peak over the mountains in the opposite direction was such a clear metaphor that light can suddenly break through during our darkest hours--that it often takes darkness before a new light can shine.  As Joseph Campbell wrote, " One thing that comes out in myths is that at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation.  The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come.  At the darkest moment comes the light."