"Seeing Buddha, the Photographic Experience"

This is an Archive of a Past Event

David Butow

Independent photojournalist

Most spiritual literature is filled with the words “see” or “vision” to describe spiritual awareness.  After three decades working as a professional photojournalist, often covering conflicts and other tragedies, David Butow decided to explore the parallels of his craft with some of the Buddhist concepts he’d been studying such as empathy, compassion and awareness of the present moment.

Looking for reflections of these concepts in the visual aesthetics and practices of traditional Buddhist cultures, he visited ten foreign countries and used a mixture of photographic techniques to capture his visual, intellectual and emotional impressions. The collection of photographs reveals a broad scope of people seeking their own transcendent experience and yet is tied together by the photographer’s singular vision. Finally, the viewers of the pictures become additional participants in the process.