In Philippe Gross's book "The Tao of photography: seeing beyond seeing" Gross underlines, through his photographs and the works of other more well-known photographers, the Taoist philosophy and wisdom. I found the message of this book not only creative, but also inspiring and informative. He pairs photographic works with informative texts to help understand his philosophy more deeply. Gross emphasizes creativity and greater awareness rather than formal techniques. Moving away from formal techniques is something I feel I've tried to do when taking photos. This photography book helped me understand new ways of approaching the camera. Opening the book in the shop I was immediately attracted by the photos. The ones I liked the most were the works that had an obvious light theme, but more importantly they all had a wonderfully beautiful feeling, a feeling that I want my photographs to have. A clear light theme is what I try to incorporate into my photos. A streak of light in a dark room or the soft light of a window detailing a sheet are the little nuances that create great photographs. Simple shapes and details created by light are things I like to see and pay attention to when looking at photographs. After reading the book and understanding the Taoist approach to taking photographs, I not only enjoyed photographs much more, but it made me want to take better photographs. Philippe Gross's Light ray photography has a simple bean of light that appears to peek through the crack of a door. The simple beam of light is so sharp and so seductive. The aimed light comes from the right corner and leads to the left. The direction of the light drew my eyes into the photograph. The light is so bright and the room is so dark that it creates a great and interesting contrast. This beam illuminates the dark corner of the concrete block wall providing a soft glimmer of light separate from the main beam.