TITLE INFORMATION

THE SAMURAI WAY: Spiritual Journeys with a Warrior Photographer
Text and photographs by Harvey Lloyd
September 2004
$24.95
208 pages
151 color images

INTRODUCTION TO THE SAMURAI WAY

“ The Samurai Way is my gift back to the world of adventure and the free spirits that I love. I believe that a creative, passionate, joy-filled life awaits everyone who is willing to work for it. With an open mind, audacity, and a sturdy heart, we will flourish and overcome all obstacles. My motto is ‘if your life bores you, risk it'.” – Harvey Lloyd .

"Brent," I shout, "what happens if we lose power here?" I lean out of our helicopter which hovers very low over Hubbard Glacier's menacing chaos of blue-white ice pinnacle and black crevasses. Beyond the glacier, my target, a large white ship cruises peacefully. I am accustomed to low flying but down here eternity stares up at me. “Not to worry, Harvey," Brent says soothingly. "We helicopter pilots in Alaska have a saying, ‘lots of altitude, lots of scream time. Down here, short scream time.'” A few days before New Year's Eve in 2003, I was at lunch talking about life and art with my friend David Finn. David is a writer, photographer, artist, publisher and founder of the Ruder Finn Public Relations Agency. He pondered on what seemed a lack of purpose in the United States and the developed nations of Europe. “We seem to be drifting, lacking cohesion.” I nodded, and said that we were very fortunate to be artists with purpose living in a wealthy country where we could freely practice our art. “After twenty years of traveling the world, I realize that our society is unique. In our United States we have virtually unlicenced freedom to work, create, and express our views. The sky's the limit. We can contribute our ideas and art to the body politic or we can do it for the joy of it. There are few, if any places in the world where that holds true. To create and to love to create is a gift without price. It enriches our lives and keeps us forever young at heart.”We learn by seeking new and unfamiliar frontiers, by exposing ourselves to the winds of chance, quirks, and opportunities of the future. With an open mind, audacity and a sturdy heart, we will flourish and overcome all obstacles. True growth and fulfillment comes from daring to be great, from challenging the unknown, from always going forward. That is the road to bliss.Dream big and dare to fail and then try again–94 year old man who aspired to climb Mt. Erebus in Antarctica

The Samurai Way:

Spiritual Journeys with a
Warrior Photographer

A worldwide photographic odyssey guided by the martial arts code of Ancient Samurai warriors It probably would not be much of an exaggeration to say that Harvey Lloyd has been everywhere, seen everything and done everything. The “Indiana Jones” of photographers, Lloyd has hung out of helicopters dangerously low over ice peaks and glaciers in Alaska and Patagonia, flown the “dead-man's curve” over The Panama Canal and Istanbul, and survived an eye-to-eye encounters with five full-grown lions and an angry mother elephant in South Africa. His new book The Samurai Way: Spiritual Journeys With A Warrior Photographer ( Ruder Finn Press, September 2004, $24.95 ) is a result of many years of global exploration, meetings with extraordinary people and exotic cultures, and numerous photo flights over every sea and continent.Lloyd is a great admirer and practitioner of the Japanese Samurai code of conduct, which is based on Zen philosophy and martial arts traditions. Harvey Lloyd encourages the development of “true vision” - a priceless insight that ensures the ability of seeing beyond the surface of things, and perceiving everything, instantly. Furthermore, it is not only a great artistic and intellectual accomplishment, but it is also a survival skill, to which any Samurai swordsman would attest.The Samurai Way explores the ways of unleashing everyone's creative spirit through the implementation of the Zen concept of no-mind , a state of mind where all extraneous thoughts are removed. It has helped Lloyd, a world-famous artist and aerial photographer, to achieve heightened levels of perception and imagination, which enable him to capture extraordinary images, often shot under the most hazardous and challenging conditions, while on personal and client assignments around the world. Above all, the book and its collection of astonishing photographs, is a tribute to the kind of personal freedom that allows each individual to constantly reach higher, ceaselessly in search of unfamiliar frontiers and the inevitably joyful and exuberant life that accompanies the journey. To reinforce this message, the text is scattered with quotes from renowned thinkers, philosophers, scientists, artists, and poets. Ultimately, it is a very intimate account of Harvey Lloyd's unique perspective on the world.