The curiosity of a child
Learning to see better
For years I have wondered about the steps one takes to improve. Photography is an inspirational act. One learns from watching others, aspiring to a higher calling, for the art to speak a meaning. A meaning that perhaps words cannot express. To improve one must reflect, on life and its intricacies, and what makes growth restricted, self-analysis is a good starting point. It’s the daily knowledge of life, that becomes the challenging aspect of creativity for me. While we know well the places we live in, it’s the monotonous view of the surroundings that often limits growth. So how does one solve the ordinary view of seeing?
To see better we often have to make a start at the beginning. Perhaps looking back at times when we were children, the curiosity of a child is often talked about. How many of us have seen children walking towards a tv screen trying to touch the colours of a cartoon movie? Placing their hands on the screen of an iPad, wanting to hold that red or yellow. Looking in wonder at the lights on a street filled with shadows of neon. noticing others children sitting inside a car, waving to strangers from across the back window or picking up that in reach with attractive colours in a shop. How many of us have seen a screaming child wanting to take “that” toy home from a shop, the toy that their parent would insist is not for them to buy! A reason toys come in bright and attractive colours.
Perhaps it is the same level of inquisitiveness that we need to develop in our own photography, it is only then, we will be able to see, with an eye of our mind. I recently tried a very similar exercise. Every time I would see something colourful I would imagine being a child wanting to “touch” that colour, somehow it dawned upon me that in that moment, it was that colour that had my full attention, the rest of the world would look pretty monotonous. Brighter colours like reds had this effect on the compositional structure. This takes me on to the next part, what if we were drawn to shapes in a similar way? Circles, squares or lines suddenly becoming more prominent bring in other unique compositional elements. The name Henri Cartier-Bresson springs to mind when we see complex compositional elements working in synergy. perhaps that’s our starting point of looking at places differently, perhaps if we started noticing colours, shapes, and lines in compositions then our images would look more interesting and we could tell the story just that little bit better.