Listening to the Land : Contemplative Photography Awe Walk

Many of us yearn to create photographs full of feeling and emotion. Contemplative photography offers us a path. By learning to listen to the land and centering our practice in humility and wonder, we deepen our connection with the natural world and our photographs come alive with meaning and beauty.

This one-hour awe walk* will introduce you to simple contemplative photography practices. Starting at the Macon County Library, together we will take a leisurely photography walk on the Little Tennessee River Greenway. Photographers of all levels are invited (camera phones are welcome) and even seasoned practitioners should find value in this unique approach to the medium.

*An Awe Walk is a walk within a place of meaning and beauty to encounter something that amazes and transcends, whether big or small.

Susan Patrice is a documentary photographer and contemplative artist. Her photography and public installations feature intimate images that touch deeply into questions of place, belonging, and ecological personhood. Since 2016, her work has primarily explored the power of beauty and its impact on our feelings of connection and kinship. Through the use of handmade cameras built in response to the land, she engages in deep conversation with wild and natural places. Susan lives in the southern Appalachian region, where she is the director of the Kinship Photography Collective.