Looking & Seeing

There is nothing like having a camera in your hands to make you look, but especially to make you see. When I have my camera with me (which is back to being most of the time these days) I look at things more. I picked up a camera again some years back because I wanted to record the things I see, but the act of having the camera makes me look at things differently too, makes me wander down back alleys to see what I might find, makes me look at patterns and colours as both abstracts as well as for the objects they are.

On my way home from a short shopping expedition the other day I wandered down a rear laneway near my house, to discover that almost the entire length of the laneway was filled with chalk drawings. There were a couple of kids and an adult just finishing up, and a garden party going on in one of the houses that backs onto the lane. It had obviously been a group project.

It was fun to stroll along and look at the drawings that ran the gamut of childlike animals and stick figures, to these messages of peace and pride.

Just another reason to enjoy looking and seeing.