Distraction for The Chronicle of Higher Education

I was recently asked to photograph several students in David Levy's class at the University of Washington called Information and Contemplation. At the beginning of every class they do a 15 minute meditation in complete silence only interrupted by the click of my shutter. The article talked about how students are exposed to a myriad of devices, iPhones, tablets, laptops, Facebook, Twitter, and the list goes on. All of these things and more can cause a serious distraction for students. Meran Hill, one of the students I photographed in David Levy's class, took 15 minutes a day to do her email and just do her email, nothing else. The exercise forces students to concentrate on the one thing they are doing and not get distracted by searching for other interesting things on YouTube or Google. It was a fun assignment to try and illustrate. Here are some of the images from the shoot.