There are times that beckon the call of just sharing the pure joy in the GIFT of SEEING with a camera. This GIFT of SIGHT should never be taken for granted. We as photographers tend to over indulge in seeing and we tend to take THE GIFT OF SIGHT for granted.
For me, I feel every living second is a gift, a gift of life. For me the simple act of seeing is most extraordinary and I dare not be complacent nor ever take seeing as a right of passage.
What does this really mean to a photographer? Well, part of it is, when you are shooting, enjoy the simple act of SEEING and recognize how fortunate we all are to do that with a camera in hand.
The 3 photos here are just about that, the joy of seeing and not to be represented by any other pretense but SEEING. They are not masterpieces, they are not amazing photos and they aren’t meant to be anything but a 2 dimensional representation of what the JOY, the LOVE, the GIFT of SEEING and VISION meant to me at the very instant of exposure.
If I think about the actual moment of exposure and I think about how most times I am GREEDY and insist that the photo be more than what it actually is, and I overindulge in my own bullshit.. well, then perhaps these photos represent the most Nobelist approach and result that I could ever have the honor of making….
The GIFT OF LIGHT AND THE GIFT OF SIGHT AND THE GIFT OF SHARING.
I find this post very zen and I’m going out to make some pictures.
Very inspiring.
Thank you sir.
Bernard, you have given me more than I could ever be blessed with…. if I inspire you well, you do the same for me my friend….
don
Don,
The guy in the first photo, going up the stairs, almost looking like he’s floating. Great shot!
Steve, thanks.. I felt like he was going some place otherworldly…. I mean it was as if I saw someone going up stairs for the first in my life……
Don, that last photograph of the gent drinking coffee reminds me of an Andy Capp cartoon classic. Well caught!
ohhhh, thanks… made my day my friend….
Shit Don, what you’re writing here fucked my brain as I’m still under an influence of what I saw several days ago. I just left a stupid clothes store and was going to wait for my wife (she was still inside a store). I stepped outside, I stopped, took a big inhale of air, wanted to look around, so I started with looking in front of me. I saw a young man/boy and a young woman/girl who were blind. They both had those white poles so I quickly knew they were blind. They were on the other side of a street. It was in the middle of a very very crowded street on a very very sunny day. They looked happy and cheerful. They were in the middle of crowd. They were waiting on a red light, then they tried to cross. The girl did, the dude seemed a little bit lost and he stayed. After all they managed to reunite, crossed the street, went forward.
As my life went, it happened to me that I realized that I enjoy moments of small happiness – feeling of a wind on a skin, a shot of light into my eyes, breathing in cool air, flickering shadows of leaves, lots of small stuff like that. But since I’ve seen the blind couple I keep thinking – see, look, stare, gape! As long as you can! Because you might loose it one day, don’t waste ability to see! If you loose eyes (or parts of brain responsible for vision, nerves or whatever related) what then? Yeah, people live like this. The couple does and seem happy. Nevertheless, I would say it’s better to have a sight than not to. So see as if you were breathing. Enjoy seeing! Vision is a whole another story, pure seeing, eyes, image. Ok. Enough of mumbo jumbo. CHeers!
Oh, and on a sharing part – I had camera with me 🙂 Have a look if you want: https://www.flickr.com/photos/80673599@N08/14391942636/
yes, that’s it………..