Artist Statement:
My photography is in the Miksang Contemplative Photography style. Miksang photography is a Shambhala Buddhist Contemplative practice that focuses on direct perception of the world, without conceptualizations; it is photography that connects the photographer with non-conceptual awareness. In contemplative photography, a synchronization of the eye and the mind is cultivated where the artist is mindful of the present moment without judging, reflecting or thinking. When the eye and the mind are harmonized, the photographer is simply observing the moment in which they find themselves and they can discover and capture the ordinary magic of the phenomenal world. This magic manifests itself as images of things in our ordinary world that are often overlooked or ignored, but hold their own unique beauty and expression.
Often with Miksang photography, the photographer will be stopped in their tracks by perceptions that completely interrupt the flow of mental activity, that freeze them in the moment. The craft is to capture that moment with the camera so that people viewing the photographs can then have the same experience.
With Miksang photography, there is no staging; no altering of the environment, the shot, or the images before, during, or after the shot is taken. What you see in these images is what I saw at the moment I took the pictures.
Denise Ippensen Bossarte (b. 1967) is a Miksang photographer living in Houston, TX.
Denise grew up in Springfield, MO and received her B.A. from Washington University, St. Louis, where she studied chemistry and biology. She received her PhD. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she studied developmental neurobiology. She then received her Masters from Nova Southeastern University, where she studied computer science. She spent the 2000s working in service-based companies as a business process improvement specialist, data analyst, and quality control director before she discovered her passion for Miksang photography and became a certified Miksang photography teacher. She has lived in multiple cities throughout the US and currently resides in Houston, TX.