The Living Curriculum of Vernon Chalmers’ Conscious Intelligence Photography Theory offers a profound reimagining of photographic learning and practice.
Photography, as a creative activity, can be understood not only as the production of images but as a transformational process that reshapes the photographer’s perceptual world, cognitive habits, and sense of meaning. Within Vernon Chalmers’ Conscious Intelligence (CI) Photography Theory, this transformation is conceptualized as a Living Curriculum - a lifelong and experiential unfolding of perceptual refinement, reflective practice, disciplined skill development, and existential engagement with the environment.
The Living Curriculum challenges static interpretations of photographic education by emphasizing internal cognitive-emotional processes, embodied sensory attention, and the open-ended evolution of the photographer’s consciousness. In this sense, the CI framework aligns with philosophical traditions such as phenomenology (Merleau-Ponty, 2012), experiential learning (Kolb, 2015), ecological psychology (Gibson, 2015), and embodied cognition (Varela, Thompson, & Rosch, 2017).
This essay investigates how the Living Curriculum functions as the pedagogical backbone of CI Photography, explaining its epistemological foundations, stages, and implications for creative practice.
1. Conceptual Foundations of the Living Curriculum1.1 Conscious Intelligence as a Framework
Conscious Intelligence, as articulated by Chalmers, refers to a synergistic mode of cognition in which perceptual awareness, emotional regulation, technical knowledge, and creative intention operate collectively. Unlike artificial intelligence - which relies on computational outputs - CI centres the photographer’s biological, cognitive, and experiential processes.
The Living Curriculum emerges as the pedagogical form of CI: a developmental pathway that is shaped by practice, environment, memory, and embodiment rather than by formal or standardized instruction.
1.2 The Curriculum as “Living”
The curriculum is “living” for three reasons:
- It is experiential rather than prescriptive.
Instead of predetermined lessons, learning arises from active perceptual engagement with real environments.
- It is adaptive and developmental.
The photographer evolves through practice, reflection, and self-awareness, much like an organism adapting to its ecosystem.
- It is embodied.
Photographic knowledge is not purely conceptual but lived through the body—through motor habits, sensory refinement, and responsive gesture (Merleau-Ponty, 2012).
2. Phenomenology and the Living CurriculumThis organic understanding of curriculum echoes Dewey’s (1934) notion of art and experience: learning takes place in the reciprocal relation between the individual and their environment.
2.1 Perceptual Presence
Phenomenology provides a conceptual lens for understanding why CI Photography emphasizes lived experience. For Merleau-Ponty (2012), perception is always embodied and intentional; we do not merely observe the world but inhabit it.
The Living Curriculum trains the photographer to cultivate this embodied perceptual presence. This is particularly evident in Chalmers’ emphasis on attentive observation in natural environments, such as his extensive practice in Birds-in-Flight (BIF) photography. The photographer becomes attuned to affordances in the environment - patterns of movement, light behavior, emotional resonance, and atmospheric conditions (Gibson, 2015).
2.2 Reflection as Phenomenological Grounding
The Living Curriculum integrates cycles of reflection that align with phenomenological reduction. After a photographic experience, the practitioner reflects on:
- What was perceived
- What was felt
- What decisions were made
- How the moment shaped the resulting image
- What possibilities were unnoticed
This reflective arc turns each photographic event into a phenomenological inquiry, enabling deeper perceptual clarity in future engagements.
3.1 Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model
Kolb’s (2015) experiential learning theory offers a clear parallel to the Living Curriculum. Kolb proposes four interrelated stages:
- Concrete experience
- Reflective observation
- Abstract conceptualization
- Active experimentation
CI Photography incorporates these stages through:
- Direct perceptual encounters with subjects
- Reflective journaling or analysis of images
- Development of conceptual awareness (light theory, exposure behavior, composition)
- Experimental return to the environment with refined intentions
This cyclical structure reinforces the idea that learning in CI Photography is recursive and self-generating.
3.2 Situated Learning
The Living Curriculum positions photography as situated in specific contexts - coastal ecosystems, urban environments, human interactions, or dynamic wildlife behaviour. Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of situated learning describes knowledge as arising from participation in meaningful contexts rather than from abstract instruction.
For Chalmers, this means that photographic intelligence grows through immersive participation in lived spaces, cultivating not only technical proficiency but ecological awareness and relational sensitivity.
4.1 The Body as an Instrument of Awareness
Embodied cognition asserts that cognitive processes are deeply rooted in bodily experience (Varela et al., 2017). Within CI, the body is the photographer’s primary interface with the world. Camera handling, timing, motor coordination, and spatial awareness are all bodily skills refined through repeated experience.
The Living Curriculum thus includes:
- Developing proprioceptive sensitivity
- Training motor memory
- Aligning bodily movement with perceptual intention
- Cultivating instinctive responsiveness to dynamic subjects
4.2 The Camera as an Extension of Embodiment
Chalmers often treats the camera as an extension of the photographer’s perceptual system. This aligns with theories of extended cognition (Clark & Chalmers, 1998). The camera extends what the body can perceive, freeze, express, and remember.
In the Living Curriculum, learning to integrate the camera seamlessly into bodily awareness becomes a key developmental milestone.
5.1 Emotional Self-Regulation
Emotional intelligence plays a central role in the Living Curriculum. Mindful emotional regulation is essential for staying attuned to the environment, maintaining patience, and fostering openness. Emotional reactivity can hinder perceptual sensitivity, while emotional stability supports creative flow.
Mayer, Caruso, and Salovey (2016) propose that emotional intelligence includes the ability to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions. CI Photography integrates these skills through:
- Calm attentiveness
- Acceptance of unpredictability
- Emotional resonance with the subject
- Reflective emotional awareness after the photographic event
5.2 Affective Meaning-Making
Photographic intention arises not only from perception but from emotion. The Living Curriculum positions emotion as a meaning-making process that shapes composition, timing, and thematic exploration.
The photographer learns to identify emotional cues such as:
- Wonder
- Curiosity
- Serenity
- Tension
- Empathy
- Awe
These emotions guide creative choices and deepen the expressive capacity of the photographer’s work.
6.1 The Photographer–Environment Reciprocity
Chalmers’ CI Photography emphasizes deep environmental awareness, particularly in naturalistic genres like BIF photography. This reflects ecological psychology’s focus on affordances - opportunities for action that arise from the environment (Gibson, 2015).
The Living Curriculum trains photographers to recognize:
- Wind direction
- Light variability
- Behavioural patterns of wildlife
- Ecological rhythms
- Topographical affordances for positioning
6.2 Ethical and Ecological Sensitivity
A key element of the Living Curriculum is the cultivation of ethical awareness. The photographer learns to respect:
- Wildlife vulnerability
- Environmental fragility
- The ethics of presence
- The responsibility of representation
This ecological grounding transforms photography into a relational practice rather than a purely extractive one.
Although CI primarily focuses on consciousness, the Living Curriculum does not ignore technical mastery. Rather, it positions technique as an integrated cognitive process. Exposure, focus, shutter dynamics, and composition become instinctive only through sustained practice.
7.2 From Explicit Knowledge to Tacit Mastery
Polanyi’s (2009) concept of tacit knowledge is central here: mastery emerges when skills become internalized, embodied, and intuitive. Through the Living Curriculum, technical knowledge shifts from:
- Explicit rules → to
- Embodied habits → to
- Creative tools of expression
This process redefines technique not as a separate domain but as part of the photographer’s evolving intelligence.
8.1 Stage 1: Awakening Perception
The first stage focuses on observational sensitivity. Photographers begin to experience the world more consciously, noticing light, movement, and texture with heightened clarity.
8.2 Stage 2: Embodied Engagement
At this stage, the body becomes a responsive instrument. The photographer learns to move intuitively, align with subjects, and synchronize motor action with perceptual attention.
8.3 Stage 3: Reflective Integration
Reflection deepens understanding. Journaling, reviewing images, and analyzing perceptual decisions helps form conceptual awareness.
8.4 Stage 4: Creative Expansion
The photographer begins to experiment with new forms of composition, perspective, and thematic exploration, guided by emotion and intentionality.
8.5 Stage 5: Conscious Intelligence
In the final stage, the photographer embodies CI as an integrated awareness - technical mastery, emotional intelligence, ecological sensitivity, and perceptual depth converge into a coherent creative intelligence.
9.1 Beyond Skill: Identity Formation
Photography in the CI framework becomes a vehicle for personal transformation. The Living Curriculum shapes the photographer’s identity through:
- Mindfulness
- Patience
- Curiosity
- Openness
- Self-knowledge
9.2 Lifelong Learning
The Living Curriculum never concludes. Each new experience reshapes perceptual awareness, emotional understanding, and creative intention. Photography becomes a lifelong inquiry into consciousness and perception.
The Living Curriculum of Vernon Chalmers’ Conscious Intelligence Photography Theory offers a profound reimagining of photographic learning and practice. It positions photography as an ongoing developmental process rooted in phenomenology, embodied cognition, emotional intelligence, and ecological awareness. The curriculum is “living” because it evolves with the photographer’s consciousness, shaping both perceptual experience and creative expression.
CI Photography transcends technique by embedding photographic practice within the deeper realms of cognitive-emotional development, lived experience, and existential presence. The Living Curriculum, therefore, stands not only as a pedagogical model but as a philosophy of creative life - one that integrates awareness, embodiment, ethics, and meaning into every photographic act." (Source: ChatGPT 2025)
ReferencesClark, A., & Chalmers, D. (1998). The extended mind. Analysis, 58(1), 7–19.
Dewey, J. (1934). Art as experience. Perigee.
Gibson, J. J. (2015). The ecological approach to visual perception. Psychology Press. (Original work published 1979)
Kolb, D. A. (2015). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (2nd ed.). Pearson.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.
Mayer, J. D., Caruso, D. R., & Salovey, P. (2016). The ability model of emotional intelligence. Emotion Review, 8(4), 290–300.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2012). Phenomenology of perception (D. A. Landes, Trans.). Routledge. (Original work published 1945)
Polanyi, M. (2009). The tacit dimension. University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1966)
Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (2017). The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience (Revised ed.). MIT Press.
