Seeing: Heart vs. Sight

I have been told a few times that I tend to see things that others miss or take for granted. For a while I wasn't quite sure what was meant by that. After taking some time in searching within myself I have come to see what makes me walk to a different beat to some others around me.

Take for example this current picture I've recently taken. To some they just see shadowed trees at a lake with some cloud. In other words, "so what there are lots of pictures like that". This is what I would call seeing by sight but not really seeing at all. Seeing by sight is used primarily for information gathering (at least to me it is).When one is seeing by sight you here comments like, "that's nice" or "so what". What I would like to encourage in others around me is seeing by the heart. What is "seeing by the heart" you ask? Well let me explain it with a new description from the picture we just used. A shadowy world with an Angel "watching" over nearby. You see seeing by your heart requires one to be not only in touch with things around them but to also be willing to allow the imagination to take some control in creating something that would invoke the emotions of the heart or spirit.

I have also found that no matter how much I try not to be; that I tend to be a wall flower (an observer). Now this in itself can be a lonely place to be. Especially in a world, that tends to be so busy, where there is no time to stop and smell the flowers so to speak. Putting that aside though, I have found that from here I am able to observe and take all types of things in. I am also able to feel very intently (maybe slightly even magnified) the emotions of others around me. Be it excitement, hurt, sadness or contentment. It really is an interesting place to be, as I have learned quite a bit about the world around me. Now I mentioned that I've tried to come down off the wall. You may ask if it's so interesting there why would you want to do that? Well, as interesting as it is up there I'm not really living life either I'm just watching it go by. So I've been trying to learn how to interact with it. Which is were I find myself now - interacting with the world I've observed for so long, but also longing for the familiarity of the wall.

So what does this have to do with my photography? I'll tell you. My photography pieces,especially anything to do with nature is how I communicate with those around me. It's an interesting place to be really. You see, by the pictures that I take others can see a snipit of what I see and hopefully enjoy it too.


P.S. The first picture I've ironically called "Angels among us" and the second picture is called " New Life"