Monkey Business

Before we kick off – watch this:-

It’s only a minute or two, and most of it is obvious…. but watch carefully, and to the very end…..

What I hope you realise by now is that we are not as perceptive as we think we are.. I spotted one of the things, but not the rest. Whilst we concentrate on the thing we are asked to work on, we fail to see what else is going on around us… our brains simply can’t deal with so much visual stimulation.

This is why, when a group of photographers go out together, to the same location, they all come back with different images.

Sometimes we’ve seen things and decided not to photograph them, but someone else did, and then we wonder why we didn’t. Other times we won’t even remember seeing some things AT ALL……

For photographers, some of the blocks are the fixed ideas we have about how to shoot something. We rush to places to get the right light, or the right composition, and leave our minds closed to the alternatives, the places we pass on our way to that ‘fixed’ location may have the gems we have missed.

Don’t forget next time you’re on your way to somewhere, that most times, there is an opportunity to stop and stare……… and SEE…

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Leisure
by
William Henry Davies (1871 – 1940)