With photography, we become super-human with our vision.
This is my theory:
Much of human intelligence (brain) comes from visual intelligence– our ability to sense depth, our ability to see colors, textures, and to quickly compose scenes.
Thus, my idea is this:
If you augment (increase) your ability of seeing the beauty of the world around you, you will have these benefits:
- You will find more interest, beauty, and melody in your everyday life (which will make your life more joyful!)
- By seeing more of the beautiful world around you, you will probably shoot more photos. The more photos you shoot, the more visual artwork you’re making. And the more art you make, the happier you will be (the more art we make, the happier we are). And the more artwork we make, the more likely we are to make a few very very good ones.
- We feel more gratitude: If you can notice more of the beauty in the world around you, you are more appreciative of being alive! Unfortunately, there are some people in the world who “wish they were never born.” Photography is an affirmation of life– of finding gratitude and joy of being alive!
Focal lengths
This is also fascinating:
Depending on what focal length you use, you see the world differently.
For example, I see the world differently with a 24mm lens, than with my “normal” vision.
Seeing the world vertically
Not only that, but photography allows me to visualize reality differently — especially when I shoot vertical (portrait-orientation) pictures.
The human has two eyes (stacked horizontally) — and thus naturally we see the world from a ‘landscape’ or ‘horizontal’ perspective.
And this is the cool thing:
The photographer has a benefit over a videographer– because we have the option to shoot vertical photos!
Abstracted reality
We see the world in three-dimensions (stereo-vision). But pictures are two-dimensional and flat objects.
Thus this is the fun game:
How can I render the three-dimensional world in a two-dimensional picture?
You can do this by shooting with a wide-angle lens (24mm, 28mm, 35mm) and getting close to your scene, and photographing your subjects at different distances (foreground, middle-ground, background).
Thus to me, photography is great because it is a fun visual game. I see people and the urban environment as puzzle pieces. It is my fun game to figure out:
How can I re-arrange all of these puzzle pieces, to make an interesting picture?
Photography augments my confidence
Photography is also great because it gives me the opportunity to have more confidence, to talk to more strangers I find interesting.
The camera augments my courage and audacious! It is pretty insane– when I am shooting street photography with a camera in my hand, I feel at least 5x more confident to interact and engage with strangers I’m interested in! If I didn’t have a camera, I don’t think I would have as much confidence to interact with others.
The world looks (Even more) beautiful!
This is also the great thing with photography:
You can make pictures which actually look more beautiful or epic than reality.
So in a sense, the photographer can play ‘photo god’ — you can construct your own visual reality.
Seeing the world in monochrome
This is the great thing with photography; you can see the world in a different visual spectrum. For example, nobody sees the world in monochrome, but photography allows us to do that!
Also, with photography, we have the power to post-process our pictures in a novel way. We can paint our photos with surreal colors:
The purpose of photography isn’t to make a factual depiction of reality. Photography is about creating your own vision of reality (from your artistic perspective).
Photography makes food taste better
Whenever I shoot pictures of my food, or shoot anything in macro mode, I better notice and appreciate the details! As a consequence, I can actually taste more flavors in my food; because I pay attention! Photography helps you appreciate and notice the details– and when you perceive the details, you can actually taste reality more!
The textures of life
I think much beauty in life comes from textures. In-fact, this is my theory:
We could not perceive touch, without some roughness or texture.
Even when I look super-close at my finger-prints, the ‘gripping texture’ of my fingers is what allows me to perceive touch! A life with absolutely no roughness or texture would be a soulless world.
Thank God I’m alive!
Are you grateful for being alive? If so, photograph what you find beautiful and grateful for.
This is the way to live the most fulfilling life possible!
Never stop shooting,
ERIC