A recent comment by a friend reminded me of how easy it is to be photographically blind to what we’re really seeing in front of us.
In particular, years ago I was photographing the Austin Belly Dance Convention in which Ava Fleming was the headline performer/instructor. While pulling selects from the performances, on her Friday night performance I hit a brick wall. My selects just didn’t feel right. Something wasn’t clicking for me.
I had to back away from the tunnel vision of having looked at the performance photos for too long and take a break. So I went and watched “Shall We Dance?” (US remake). While watching the movie it struck me – Jazz! The lightbulb went on! I remember in reading her instructor bio that she had a modern dance background. I ran back to my computer and BOOM! the selects were trivial to pick.
My vision was locked in to the familiar forms and moves and I was missing the picture she was presenting. I could see it, but I couldn’t access it until I shifted my frame of reference (or my focus) to a different place, then the pieces fell into place.
So have you been in a place where your vision (photographic, dance, life) is keeping you from seeing?
