Everyone thinks he knows what a lettuce looks like. But start to draw one and you realize the anomaly of having lived with lettuces all your life but never having seen one, never having seen the semi-translucent leaves curling in their own lettuce way, never having noticed what makes a lettuce a lettuce rather than a curvy kale. I am not suggesting that you draw each nerve, each vein of each leaf, but that you feel them being there. What applies to lettuces, applies equally to the all-too-familiar faces of husbands … wives … Frederick Franck, The Zen of Seeing (paid link)
One of the gifts that photography has given me is that I see so much more — looking closely and carefully at the world through the lens.
Wise words, Kim. Learning to draw (or to compose well for photography) slows us down enough to notice the detail we would otherwise miss. It could only be for the good to bring that level of focus not just to seeing our loved ones but listening to them too.
What an amazing lesson in seeing – the seeing “what makes a lettuce a lettuce”.
Beautiful: using contemplative photography has opened my eyes….sometimes very wide. Amazing how much we ignore of the beauty all around us.