Noticing
it's not an art
Rob Walker wrote a book called “The art of noticing: 131 ways to spark creativity, find inspiration and discover joy in the everyday”. If you read the book, you know but if you didn’t, I’ll give you the spoiler: noticing is not an art it’s a skill that anyone can develop. I like to think that I developed mine by looking constantly through the viewfinder, even more, cameras helped me.
“I want you to notice
When I’m not around”
are the lyrics from Creep by Radiohead and I believe they beautifully describe a feeling but they also make me think at something else: things can be unnoticed even if they are around. This is where my “What I’ve seen today” series is coming from.
Most of the photos from the series are taken with my phone while I’m passing by. They are things that I noticed, things that made me stop for different reasons extending from funny to stupid. Some of them you might have already seen, but I think they have a role here. The series contains photos where light is the subject and I attribute them to the magic of nature or interesting shadows that can happens only because of the right timing. The series also contains photos that make me wonder how did this can happen; how did the people that arrange things not see the funny part of the situation? I have one answer: if you look at the situation from the right angle, you can see it.
Noticing is everything.
I haven't read the book and I'm unlikely to do so. Noticing is, IMO, sort of the whole point when it comes to photography - or any art form. Noticing is the thing that helps separate the wheat from the chaff.
The best part is the more we look the more we notice, and soon we are always looking.