Jim Nicholls
Jim Nicholls
Br Martin & Jim Nicholls, Shantivanam
Professional Photographer from New York, Jim is qualified as a therapist and spiritual director. He travels widely across the world and in 2005 co-authored the book, “War & Faith in Sudan,” Eerdmans, NY. Jim is constantly exploring the nature of Photography as a spiritual art form.
Jim will be companion-guide for those of us who come on a journey in November 2010 through Kerala, following the steps of St Thomas. We visit places that touch time beyond time. In that spaciousness our hearts grow wider, our imaginations free, our breath catches, and we are held in awe and wonder.
Photography, as with drawing and painting, is about the choices we make in the visual framing of elements: what to include, what to exclude, and whether to zoom in or withdraw. This is a practice of visual discernment: a way of choosing what needs to be retained and what needs to be surrendered.
In terms of his contribution to our Journeys in North and South India, Jim says: “Perhaps the framing we do in the photograph represents how we can frame and work with what we have in life. Foreground and background, for example, are planes of reality that allow for focus and harmonizing. We can grow in conscious living in similar ways as art will teach us. Photography moves then from hobby to spiritual tool.”
Please visit Jim’s website to see something of the range and depth os his work. His recent book, “Seen” can be purchased online from his website:
Forthcoming Journey:
“In the Steps of St. Thomas” – a Spiritual Journey in Kerala: 14 – 30 November 2010
“Following The Buddha” – a Spiritual Journey in North India: 12 – 26 February 2011