The Mindful Photographer

When to Put the Camera Down

1917 Map of Sugar Production and Imported Piano, Maui, Hawai‘i, from the project, Dreams of Hope. Legacies of Power, David Ulrich

With permission, I photographed within a home of the missionary descendants in Hawai‘i. Since my approach was critical of sugar production, I waited until after the death of their matriarch, who graciously offered me access, to publish or exhibit these images.

Constraints are essential in any art form. Without limits, both life and art would be diffuse and undifferentiated. Poetry and prose have their own conventions of language, grammar, and structure. So too does painting and photography—and ...