civilized ku # 729 ~ Autumn color # 50 / on seeing
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 09:07AM 
Lawn, car, branch, and bushes ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIn yesterday's entry, ku # 826, I deliberated upon the distinction between seeing and making a picture of what you see. IMO, seeing and making a picture of what you see - although very obviously related acts - are actually quite different activities.
One could spend the better part of an hour (or a day) seeing things without making a single picture of what was seen. Or, conversely, one could spend the better part of an hour (or a day, or, for that matter, a lifetime) making pictures that are little more than the work of a parrot, no seeing required. FYI, I would opine that the former activity is time well spent whereas the latter is simply time spent.
That said, let's get on with the notion of seeing - IMO, the whole of seeing is presented in very succinct fashion in the previously proffered (civilzed ku # 725) quote by Stephen Shore ....
.... what the world looks like in a state of heightened awareness ... it’s that awareness of really looking at the everyday world with clear and focused attention ...
It should be noted that being in a state of heightened awareness with clear and focused attention on a constant basis might just be a recipe for sensory overload. On the other hand, I am not so sure that that state can be switched on and off at will. Nor do I believe that is some mystical state that requires the mixture of Zen and the ingestion of psilocybin mushrooms - although, for the terminally inhibited, that might be the only course of action.
IMO, and in my personal experience, attaining a state of heightened awareness is best achieved by living a life of simply paying constant attention to the world around one's self - simply being aware of what the hell is going on in your world. No more slouching towards Armageddon. Sit up straight, open your eyes and mind, and pay attention.
an ASIDE: Exactly what you might choose to pay attention to, picturing making wise, is completely up to you. Some might be interested in the social life of ants while others might be more interested in the color red. What piques your picture making interest(s) doesn't really matter as long as you have a genuine interest in something with which you have a very personal connection.
To avoid sensory overload (both mental and visual), I keep my paying-attention-dial set to "moderate" which makes it relatively easy to dial it up to a higher setting when something in my world pricks my attention. Other than the fact that I prefer living life in an aware state of eye and mind, picture making wise I find it much easier to move the dial from moderate to heightened than I do from off to on.
Now, if all this seems a bit elementary, just let me state that I am continually surprised - one might even say, "dumbstruck" - by the number of people, picture makers included, who seem to regularly miss even the most obvious of stuff. While they do manage to avoid running over pedestrians in a crosswalk, what they don't see could easily fill a 16GB CF card.
So, if you are afflicted with a paying-attention disorder, how do you develop and encourage a greater - or fledgling, if that is the case - sense of awareness of the world around you - aka: seeing, as opposed to just looking?
In many of the how-to photography books (with the word "mastering" in their titles), there are a host of "exercises" devoted to attaining a great awareness. Things like going into your bathroom and making 20 pictures, or, if making 20 pictures is easy, then making more pictures up to the point where there are no more pictures to be made. Or, at least until the point where it becomes difficult to make any more pictures.
IMO, this is a pointless exercise, re: the act of seeing. If you want to hone your ability to see, the next time you go into your bathroom to sit on the toilet, spend some time looking at things with the aim of getting a feel for the place and the things in the place. Pay attention to light, color, shape, textures, the relationship of one thing to another or the relationship of one thing to the whole of it all.
And then, instead of making pictures of it all, think about / ponder all that you have seen. Let it seep into your bones because, while the camera is a tool for recording what we see, so is the intellect. The camera does not bestow purpose, only the intellect, assisted by emotion (aka: passion), can encourage and develop that critical-to-the-act-of-seeing ingredient.
Reader Comments (3)
My wife and I shoot what we see, checkout our shots of Saratoga from Monday, all shots taken from the car.
I am enjoying these essays on seeing. They make me step back and ponder what it is that I am doing/seeing/not seeing. I am frequently stuck with the question of what makes a good/interesting photograph. For instance, some the the photographs that you post here (Autumn color #50)leave me wondering what is this about? why do I care? What am I missing/not seeing?
I do not wish to be anonymous. I have figured out how to add my web site to these posts.
Thanks