The Story Behind the 2013 Summer Dathun Portraits

Last week on this blog, we shared photographs of twelve Dathun participants taken before and after their month long meditation retreat. This week we’d like to share a bit about the gifted photographer who took these portraits and a bit about the unique process she used to do it.

Karen O’Hern is a Colorado-based photographer who travels the globe with her large camera and enormous heart, capturing images that reveal the deep beauty of the world and humanity. She is a true “Humanitarian Photographer.”

We encourage you to visit Karen’s webpage in order to learn more about this artist, her amazing journey, and to view a gallery of images that will break your heart wide open–we promise.

We’re so grateful that Karen turned her love and lens towards these Dathun participants this past summer, and we’re glad to share with you here some words from her regarding the process.

From Karen:

The instructions I gave the participants: Prior to taking their portrait, I explained that this would not be what they were used to when having their picture taken. This was about capturing them in an authentic and genuine state of being, and recording their state at this point and time. So before raising the camera to my face, I asked them to close their eyes and settle in to who they were right now – to feel the experience of their authentic self no matter what that meant. When they felt they were looking how they genuinely felt, only then should they open their eyes. They should take as much time as necessary. I explained that when they opened their eyes, they would see the camera’s lens and they should maintain their state, and simply think about seeing their reflection of their authentic self – exactly how they were right then – in the end of the lens. They should remain in that state until I gave them a verbal indication that we were done.

They were all able to do that, not seeming to change when their eyes opened.