Do we really see

Do we really see? I mean most of us see things, we have eyes and we can see the world around us but do we REALLY see the world around us, or do we just look? I work around children every day in my non-photography job and children see things that many adults I am around on a daily basis miss. This is very true amongst many of the younger children. They often see things like texture, shape, form. They see tiny objects and fine details. Is it that the world and things are still fairly new to them and we grow to where we just accept the world around us?

The reason I ask this question is that often when I walk around in the forest along a hiking trail with my camera I get asked the question, “anything good?”. The people asking have apparently missed all the little things or sometimes the big things like light, pattern, form but do we sometimes do the same thing? I think we do. So many times, we grab our gear and head out for the big photo outing and we wander aimlessly, often coming home with what turns out to be a few crappy snapshots. What did we miss? Did we fail to actually see the world? Are we trying too hard to get that spectacular shot that is often as evasive as Big Foot, or in the case of the State of Missouri, MoMo? Learning to see photographically is a difficult thing to explain and often difficult to teach unless you are walking with your student.

Think about it today. Are you really seeing or are you wandering on autopilot?