Description
Price: $21.95 - $17.35
(as of Mar 18, 2025 15:09:17 UTC – Details)
For amateurs and professionals alike, this book is the story of photography’s power to renew the spirit. Jan Phillips helps us transform sight into vision, leading us to see that images can be mirrors for our deepest truths, even in our simple snapshots. “The real thing about photography,” Jan says, “is that it brings you home to yourself, connects you to what fulfills your deepest longings. Every step in the process is a step toward the light, an encounter with the God who is at eye level, whose image I see wherever I look. There’s something holy about this work. Like the pilgrim’s journey; it’s heaven all the way.”
Publisher : Quest Books; First Quest Ed. edition (May 1, 2000)
Language : English
Paperback : 160 pages
ISBN-10 : 0835607852
ISBN-13 : 978-0835607858
Item Weight : 1.3 pounds
Dimensions : 9.5 x 0.4 x 9.5 inches
Customers say
Customers find the book visually appealing and evocative. They describe it as a wonderful, magical read with beautiful photography and insightful writing. Readers appreciate the spiritual perspective and healing influence of photography on society. The quotes by photographers are also appreciated.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Bulent Celasun –
A Spiritual Look Into Photography
In spite of its name and the identity of its publisher (Theosophical Publishing House), this book is NOT only for religious people or “believers”. Perhaps the only requirement for the reader is being an idealist.The book, decorated by many nice and a few extraordinary photographs, can be summarized in a few words like these: Our lives have a purpose, so do the others’. Photography is a tool that helps making others’ life better while making you feel better at the same time. Caring for others and, using photography both as a sort of meditation and as a public (universal) service are the two recurring themes. The chapter headings like “Looking for the Joy of It” shows what you might expect from Phillips.The authors’ writing style is both mature and friendly. No technical details for the photographs are given and no advice on matters like exposure or lighting exists. However, there are quite useful little projects (some only as a mental exercise, some for writing down, some for shooting…) suggested at the end of all chapters. This is just one of them: “If you were called upon to document the homeless in your community, how would you go about doing this?” You also find words of wisdom by almost a hundred others (from philosophers to photographers) scattered on almost all the pages like Margaret Atwood’s: “The act of making a photograph is less a question of what is being looked than how”.I enjoyed reading the book and I recommend it to those who like to listen to a calm, slightly mystical voice on photography. For others, who think those may be boring, there are at least a dozen choices out there 🙂
John Ellsworth –
A moving book
“God is at Eye Level” is a beautiful book–a moving book. Here Jan Phillips discusses the healing effect of photography on the personal and sociological levels. The design, photographs, quote-selections, and lucid writing are artfully woven together to produce an evocative read.Several sub-themes radiate, all reinforced with illuminating quotes from famous artists and thinkers. Among my favorite themes is the relevance of “the moment,” or “the present.” As Jan says, when embarking on an “excursion of seeing, the rest of one’s life is temporarily on hold. There is nothing to reckon with but the moment at hand.” When anchored in the present, one’s regrets and fears tend to dissolve. You are treated with a “sweet joy” and the healing nature of a “now” orientation.Your photographs reflect who you are. As a result, you can discover as much about seeing inside yourself as the world outside. When you go out and shoot, Jan says, “honor your instincts, for the images that result are like clues to a treasure hunt,” symbols which later tell you who you are, where you’ve been, and where you are going.Jan tries to develop a relationship with everyone she photographs. She strives to achieve empathy with all her subjects. For her, the relationship comes first. Her portraits grow out of this closeness and express the intimacy from which they emerge. As a result, a portrait reflects the authenticity of a person’s spirit.Jan discusses the healing influence photography has upon society. She cites several photographers whose work evoked a national response and encouraged social reform. Among others, Jan includes the work of Dorothea Lange (migrant farmers) and Laura Gilpin (Navajos).And lastly, many photographers wait until they are inspired before they go shooting. Jan says that for her, inspiration comes while working, not before it. The key is to start working, then discover while underway. Once you do, you will experience the healing nature of photography.
Andrew Ilachinski –
Learning to see God by “seeing”….
I happened to notice this wonderful, soulful, book at a local bookstore and was moved by the deceptive simplicity of its title and peaceful image on the cover to pick it up and thumb through its pictures; I was floored by the sincere depth of its message.The book is a sublime gem that anyone who is interested in what photography is all about, what life is all about, and what their *soul* is all about, owes it to themselves to keep by their side! It will deepen and nourish your relationship with the world.Jan Philips is a rare creature who is equally well proficient, gifted even, in both effortlessly capturing the timeless beauty and spirit of nature in her photos and providing an eloquent written context for those images to help others find the sacred in the “ordinary.” Leafing even through only a few pages will leave almost surely leave one with a sense of tranquility; reading over the entire book, a few times perhaps, depending on mood and temperament, cannot fail to leave even the most downtroden of souls feeling joyful at simply being alive and having the privelage at marveling at life’s beauty. The book, in short, is all about how *everything that one looks at* — and most of all the inner “I” that is always lurking somewhere in the mysterious depths of our souls looking outward through our “eyes” — is nothing but God looking in.This is a small treasure of a book that is now on the short list of books I will never part with. Highly recommended.
MW –
Jan is an amazing writer and photographer who knows how to inspire and …
Jan is an amazing writer and photographer who knows how to inspire and teach. I have had her book for many years and recently bought another copy to replace the one I gave to a friend. This book is useful for artists, thinkers, students, and anyone who wants to further his or her creative vision or his or her understanding of the self. This is a book you will keep for a very long time. Worth every penny.
Maryam –
Good choice
It was a gift to someone else but I got to take a look at it before I wrap it and present it. I expected it to have more photos but realize there,s something magical about this book.
Bobbles –
This book was well reviewed so I was surprise by its content. I bought it a a photographer seeking to add a spiritual element to my work. The photographic content is poor, exclusively black and white but not in a quality stylish way but in a cheap to print, make the most profit kind of way, some of the pictures were so dark they had unintentionally become silhouettes. The social commentary had some merit but only from an very American right wing conservative christian point of view, This is not necessarily bad but if you are looking for a broadminded and eclectic interpretation you will be dissapointed. The content is culturally diverse but only from a zenephobes view point.There is one positive note and it is the reason why I will be keeping this otherwise disappointing book. There are several places in the book where you are advised to look at the photos you have and consider how you feel about them, these sections called reflections are very good indeed.