Vernon Chalmers’ Photography Philosophy

Phenomenological and Existential Interpretation: Vernon Chalmers’ photography philosophy embodies a synthesis of phenomenology, existentialism, and environmental ethics.

Speckled Pigeon in Flight : Diep River, Woodbridge Island

Introduction

Vernon Chalmers’ photography philosophy articulates a distinctive synthesis of aesthetic practice, existential reflection, and phenomenological awareness. Operating primarily from Milnerton, Cape Town, Chalmers has developed a body of work and pedagogy that integrates technical precision with a profound concern for perception, presence, and meaning. His photographic philosophy does not treat photography as a purely visual or documentary medium but as an existential mode of being-in-the-world - an act through which one encounters the self, others, and the environment in a relationship of ethical and aesthetic responsibility (Chalmers, 2025a).

This essay explores the philosophical architecture underpinning Chalmers’ photographic thinking. It interprets his writings and educational practice through the frameworks of phenomenology, existentialism, and logotherapy, while also situating his approach within broader traditions of art philosophy and environmental aesthetics. The discussion unfolds in six sections: (1) existential and phenomenological foundations, (2) colour, light, and embodied perception, (3) the bird as existential subject, (4) contemplative and pedagogical practice, (5) ethics and aesthetics, and (6) Chalmers’ broader philosophical significance.

Existential and Phenomenological Foundations

At the core of Chalmers’ philosophy lies an insistence that photography is a lived, embodied act rather than a technological exercise. His reflections position perception as the site where meaning emerges - an outlook consistent with the phenomenological tradition of Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. For Merleau-Ponty (1962), perception constitutes the “flesh” of the world: the medium through which consciousness and environment intertwine. Chalmers (2025b) likewise conceives of the camera as an extension of the perceiving body, a prosthesis through which attentiveness to light, form, and temporality becomes possible.

From an existential perspective, Chalmers’ approach echoes Jean-Paul Sartre’s (1992) concept of authenticity and Martin Heidegger’s (1962) understanding of being-toward-the-world. For him, the act of photographing is inseparable from being present to experience; it demands an openness that affirms the fleetingness of existence. The photograph becomes less a product than a trace of engagement - evidence of having truly perceived.

This orientation manifests in his preference for natural subjects such as birds, seascapes, and landscapes that resist manipulation or staging. Each image is the result of an encounter rather than a construction. Through this philosophy, Chalmers establishes a dialogue between the human and the natural that recalls Heidegger’s notion of aletheia - the unconcealment of being through attentive seeing. Photography, in this sense, is a phenomenological disclosure rather than a technical achievement.

Colour, Light, and Embodied Perception

Chalmers’ use of colour and light situates his photography within a phenomenology of embodiment. While many existential photographers employ monochrome to evoke abstraction or alienation, Chalmers treats colour as a sensory affirmation of lived experience. In his view, colour is not merely decorative but expressive of the relationship between the perceiving body and its environment (Chalmers, 2025b).

Merleau-Ponty’s (1964) analysis of colour as a “vibration of being” provides a useful framework for interpreting this approach. For Chalmers, colour functions as a mode of participation: it immerses the photographer in the atmosphere of the scene and anchors perception within affective experience. The shifting hues of dawn light, the iridescence of a bird’s feathers, or the reflective qualities of water all serve to locate consciousness in the sensuous immediacy of the world.

This embodied engagement with light and colour transforms photography into an existential practice of attention. The process of “chasing the light,” recurrent throughout Chalmers’ writings, signifies not technical perfection but the pursuit of an authentic moment of perception. Light becomes a metaphor for presence - the luminous intersection of time, space, and awareness.

Moreover, Chalmers’ colour philosophy reveals a subtle resistance to the technological fetishism that pervades modern digital photography. By privileging perceptual experience over equipment, he affirms that meaning arises from how one sees rather than from the sophistication of one’s tools. His approach resonates with Dewey’s (1934) conception of art as experience: the integration of doing and undergoing that culminates in heightened consciousness.

Vernon Chalmers Photography Praxis

The Bird and the Horizon: Nature as Existential Subject

Among Chalmers’ most recognisable genres is bird-in-flight photography. Beyond its technical challenge, this subject embodies a philosophical preoccupation with freedom, temporality, and vulnerability. The bird becomes a living metaphor for existential being - an entity suspended between movement and stillness, presence and disappearance.

Phenomenologically, the bird in motion disrupts the human tendency to fix or control perception. It resists the static ontology of the posed image. Capturing such a subject demands synchrony between eye, body, and camera - a moment of what Heidegger might describe as Gelassenheit, or releasement toward the world. In this encounter, the photographer experiences both agency and surrender.

Existentially, the image of flight mirrors the condition of human existence. Sartre’s (1992) concept of freedom as both possibility and burden finds visual analogy in these compositions. The fleeting arc of a bird across the frame suggests the transience of all lived moments; it affirms that meaning is found not in permanence but in the act of witnessing.

Furthermore, Chalmers’ recurring motifs of horizon and open sky extend this existential metaphor. The horizon functions as a threshold between known and unknown, immanence and transcendence. Through such imagery, Chalmers invites contemplation of human finitude within vast ecological space. His photographs thus operate simultaneously as aesthetic artefacts and meditations on being.

Contemplative Practice and Pedagogical Philosophy

Chalmers’ pedagogical work extends his philosophy from personal practice to collective learning. His educational programs emphasise a reflective approach in which technical skill serves the development of vision and awareness (Chalmers, 2025c). He encourages photographers to cultivate presence through disciplined observation, patience, and responsiveness to light.

This orientation aligns with the contemplative pedagogies articulated in contemporary educational theory, which regard mindfulness as a foundation for creativity (Kabat-Zinn, 2012; Nhat Hanh, 1991). Chalmers frames photography as an exercise in attentiveness - a process that trains perception and deepens connection to environment.

His method also integrates Viktor Frankl’s (2006) principles of logotherapy, particularly the pursuit of meaning through purposeful activity. Photography, for Chalmers, becomes a means of existential affirmation: a practice through which individuals can rediscover purpose and coherence in everyday life. By focusing attention on the ephemeral and the beautiful, the act of photographing becomes an antidote to nihilism and distraction.

In his teaching, Chalmers underscores experiential learning rather than prescriptive technique. Workshops and mentorships revolve around field experience, dialogue, and reflective critique (Chalmers, 2025c). This approach transforms photography education into a phenomenological apprenticeship, fostering not merely competence but awareness. Students learn to see rather than to imitate, to perceive rather than to record.

Ethics, Aesthetics, and Environmental Consciousness

Chalmers’ photographic ethics derive from his existential respect for being and his environmental sensitivity. His repeated focus on local ecosystems such as the Milnerton Lagoon and Woodbridge Island positions photography as both aesthetic expression and ecological advocacy (Chalmers, 2025a).

Ethically, his practice embodies what environmental philosopher Holmes Rolston III (1988) calls “respect for life”: an awareness that aesthetic pleasure carries moral responsibility. Chalmers’ images do not instrumentalise nature for spectacle; instead, they invite empathy and care. The photographic act becomes an encounter grounded in reciprocity rather than domination.

This ethical orientation also reflects Emmanuel Levinas’s (1969) philosophy of the Other. The photographed subject - bird, landscape, or sea - presents itself as an Other whose vulnerability commands responsibility. By attending without exploitation, the photographer acknowledges alterity and affirms an ethical relation.

Aesthetically, Chalmers’ approach exemplifies what Arnold Berleant (1992) terms “aesthetic engagement.” The viewer is not detached from the image but drawn into its field of perception. His compositions, often marked by spaciousness and subtle gradations of colour, foster a contemplative state that mirrors the attentiveness of their creation.

Chalmers’ integration of ethics and aesthetics contributes to a broader discourse on the moral dimensions of visual culture. In an age where digital imagery often prioritises consumption and manipulation, his philosophy restores the possibility of sincerity. The photographic image, when grounded in presence and respect, becomes a medium of ethical communication.

Existential Temporality and the Photographic Moment

Time occupies a central role in Chalmers’ philosophy. His emphasis on the “now” situates photography within the existential tension between temporality and transcendence. The captured image embodies the paradox of presence-in-absence: the moment that has passed yet continues to appear.

Drawing on Heidegger’s (1962) conception of temporality, one might interpret Chalmers’ work as an attempt to reconcile human finitude with the continuity of being. Each photograph acknowledges loss - the disappearance of the moment - while preserving its trace. In this way, photography functions as an existential gesture of remembrance.

Phenomenologically, the temporal dimension of Chalmers’ images enacts what Husserl described as retention and protention: the interplay of memory and anticipation within perception. The act of photographing compresses these temporal horizons, producing a heightened awareness of duration.

Through this temporal consciousness, Chalmers’ work transcends documentary aims. His photographs are less records of events than meditations on the experience of time itself. The flutter of a bird’s wings or the shimmer of coastal light becomes a microcosm of human temporality - a fleeting affirmation of being that resists finality.

Photography, Technology, and the Question of Authenticity

In contemporary photographic culture, technology often dictates aesthetic values. Chalmers resists this tendency by re-centring the human act of seeing. His writings repeatedly emphasise that technical mastery serves perception rather than supersedes it (Chalmers, 2025b).

This stance resonates with Walter Benjamin’s (1968) critique of mechanical reproduction and Susan Sontag’s (1977) reflections on photographic consciousness. For both, the danger of technology lies in alienating the viewer from the immediacy of experience. Chalmers’ insistence on perception and awareness restores the authenticity that mass imagery erodes.

Nevertheless, his approach does not reject technology outright. Instead, it exemplifies what philosopher Don Ihde (1990) calls a post-phenomenological relation to tools - an understanding that technology mediates experience without determining it. The camera, for Chalmers, is not a barrier but a conduit through which intentional perception flows. Authenticity arises when the photographer maintains awareness of this mediation.

In positioning the photographer as a conscious participant rather than a passive operator, Chalmers contributes to ongoing philosophical discussions about the ethics of technology. His practice demonstrates that digital instruments can coexist with existential authenticity when used reflectively and responsibly.

The Educational Dimension of Meaning

A defining feature of Chalmers’ contribution to photographic philosophy is his commitment to mentorship and community learning. He frames education as a dialogical process that mirrors the relational structure of perception itself (Chalmers, 2025c). Students are encouraged to approach photography not as competition or accumulation of skill but as a means of cultivating meaning.

This orientation parallels Paulo Freire’s (1970) conception of dialogical education, where learning arises through interaction, reflection, and co-creation. In Chalmers’ workshops, participants engage both technically and philosophically, developing an awareness of photography as lived practice.

By incorporating psychological insight - particularly logotherapy - into education, Chalmers extends the existential dimension beyond the self toward communal flourishing. Learning photography becomes an act of self-realisation and relational awareness. This pedagogical synthesis situates his work within the lineage of arts-based transformative education (Barone & Eisner, 2012).

Philosophical Significance and Critical Reflections

Chalmers’ photography philosophy makes several distinctive contributions to contemporary thought. First, it unites technical expertise with existential reflection, demonstrating that precision and meaning are not mutually exclusive. Second, it reclaims photography as a contemplative, phenomenological act in an era dominated by rapid image production. Third, it extends existential philosophy into environmental and educational domains, offering a practical ethics of perception.

Nevertheless, certain tensions remain. The emphasis on individual authenticity may risk overlooking broader socio-political dimensions of photography, such as representation and access. Moreover, the balance between technological sophistication and meditative simplicity is difficult to maintain in a digital context saturated with automation. Yet these tensions themselves enrich Chalmers’ philosophy by situating it within real contemporary dilemmas.

Critically, his work invites comparison with other existential or phenomenological photographers - figures such as Minor White, Paul Caponigro, and contemporary mindfulness-based practitioners. However, Chalmers’ South African context and his explicit integration of logotherapy render his approach unique. He translates existential insight into practical pedagogy and environmental consciousness, grounding philosophical abstraction in everyday experience.

Conclusion

Vernon Chalmers’ photography philosophy embodies a synthesis of phenomenology, existentialism, and environmental ethics. His practice situates photography as a dialogue between self and world, perception and technology, light and temporality. By emphasising awareness, authenticity, and responsibility, he transforms the photographic act into a form of existential engagement.

Through his pedagogical initiatives, Chalmers extends this vision to others, fostering communities of photographers who value mindfulness and meaning as much as technical competence. His philosophy demonstrates that to photograph is not merely to depict but to dwell - to inhabit the luminous intersection of being and seeing.

Ultimately, Chalmers offers a compelling model of photographic humanism for the twenty-first century. In a culture of distraction and image excess, his work reminds us that the true purpose of photography lies not in possession but in perception, not in documentation but in dialogue. Photography, in his hands and mind, becomes a quiet act of resistance against alienation - a way of learning to see, and through seeing, to be.

References

Barone, T., & Eisner, E. W. (2012). Arts based research. Sage.

Benjamin, W. (1968). The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. In H. Arendt (Ed.), Illuminations (H. Zohn, Trans., pp. 217–252). Schocken Books.

Berleant, A. (1992). The aesthetics of environment. Temple University Press.

Chalmers, V. (2025a). About Vernon Chalmers Photography. Vernon Chalmers Photography. https://www.vernonchalmers.photography/p/vernon-chalmers-photography-profile.html

Chalmers, V. (2025b). Vernon Chalmers Photography and Philosophy. Vernon Chalmers Photography. https://www.vernonchalmers.photography/2025/04/vernon-chalmers-photography-and.html

Chalmers, V. (2025c). Photography training philosophy and skills development. Vernon Chalmers Photography. https://www.vernonchalmers.photography/2025/08/photography-training-philosophy.html

Dewey, J. (1934). Art as experience. Minton, Balch & Company.

Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man’s search for meaning. Beacon Press.

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed (M. Bergman Ramos, Trans.). Herder and Herder.

Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and time (J. Macquarrie & E. Robinson, Trans.). Harper & Row.

Ihde, D. (1990). Technology and the lifeworld: From garden to earth. Indiana University Press.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2012). Mindfulness for beginners. Sounds True.

Levinas, E. (1969). Totality and infinity: An essay on exteriority (A. Lingis, Trans.). Duquesne University Press.

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of perception (C. Smith, Trans.). Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1964). Eye and mind. In J. Edie (Ed.), The primacy of perception (pp. 159–190). Northwestern University Press.

Nhat Hanh, T. (1991). Peace is every step. Bantam Books.

Rolston, H. III. (1988). Environmental ethics: Duties to and values in the natural world. Temple University Press.

Sartre, J.-P. (1992). Being and nothingness (H. E. Barnes, Trans.). Washington Square Press.

Sontag, S. (1977). On photography. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Image: Copyright Vernon Chalmers Photography