I am not creepy, I just like to watch
Human observation. I like to watch.
Often I will stop, step back (figuratively or literally) and look around and see. What I see, what I observe, what I watch, depends where I am, who I am near, what I am doing, but I always get a sense of creative, imaginative, sense of joy from seeing what goes on around me.
I am not a creep or freak, well, not in this sense. I am just an observer.
Seeing without looking. Its a lesson I learned a long time ago when I embarked on learning about #photography. A camera can see things. It cannot look. It will capture what is in its field of view and freeze that very moment. Though, with the latest in “digital photography (yes, this is arguable!)” of the mobile handheld devices, like Smartphones, the technology will often unfreeze, or freeze sequences in time, but it still cannot look.
Admittedly, technologies that do “look” exist. Exist in law-enforcement and intelligence, they exist in everyday life, the camera that keeps a “look-out” for speeding motorists or facial-recognition. But in a real sense, the still only see.
I like to see.
I encourage friends, work colleagues, acquaintances to stop, and stand in front of the lens, the mirror, the pane of glass, and just see. See a reflection of themselves, see a frozen moment in their time and appreciate two things.
- the technology that allows this to happen. From our human eye, to the digital wonders of cameras, surfaces and visual devices; but, more importantly, appreciate
- what they see. What appears before them.
Looking at ourselves can often be a hard task. Its not though, it maybe uncomfortable, it maybe awkward, but that is for a whole range of other reasons. Take a seflie — not for Instagram or Snapchat. But a selfie that you can look at and see.
