Photography and Zen. I recently finished 'The Way of Zen' by Alan W. Watts. One of the last chapters in the book deals with Zen in the Arts. The expression of Zen through the arts can make the concepts of the philosophy more tangible. Black and White photography like calligraphy and haiku is well suited to illustrating Zen concepts. I have said before that the act of taking a photograph is creating a silver gelatin fossil of reflected light in a matrix of time. Photography creates a physical manifestation of that moment an eternal now. The process of negative to positive also reflects the harmony of opposites of yin and yang.