Ways of Seeing Essay

There are so many ways to look at things that I really didn’t even know where to begin at first. I began by exploring perception because I feel like that is the root of how two people can look at an image and get two very different interpretations from it. One thing that I think influences this is our background and interests. However, I think it is also possible to look at things semi-realistically and draw conclusions that should be fairly concrete about an image, meanwhile, one can really only enjoy an image when they can relate to it via emotions and past experiences. When thinking of ways to see things I immediately think of how my major of photography really altered the way I look at things. Acknowledging this influence made me wonder how people who have other jobs or majors relate them to the way they see the world. How might a writer see and comprehend something differently than a photographer or a biologist? As a photographer, when something catches my eye, I sort of put an imaginary frame around it when looking and think of how I might catch it in an image. Say a child is standing a few feet away from me, I might think of how to capture their “cuteness” in photo or maybe just document them the way they are, without a certain goal of what emotion a photo should convey. However, I find myself doing this most often with landscapes. There is a gorgeous pond by my house and it’s frozen over this time of the year but there’s still always a ton of geese and ducks surrounding it. I also see these guys that like to go ice fishing there. Sometimes I park and take pictures but I also drive by it every day on my way to work and I’ll glance out and see an angle that I think would be so interesting to take a picture of. When I look at things in general, I look at them for aesthetic appeal and wonder how I could capture something I like in a photo and be able to portray it to someone else. A biologist might look at my pond very differently because of their background. Although they may appreciate it for its aesthetic principles, they may have additional thoughts that run through their mind that I would not think about. They may consider the creatures that live here and how they are affected by the freeze. They would take a closer look at the pond by trying to study the experience of the animal. This is due to their background and the fact that they have been trained to question certain things. If a writer were to look at the same scenery, they would be influenced by their background when they go to interpret it. When you write a lot, you try to think of the perfect word to describe something and from experience, I know when I go through a phase of frequent writing, I like to tell stories to people as well. When looking at something, you almost see it as a story in your head. A writer might ask themselves, how could this inspire me or how can I write about it?

From looking at these different interests, we can see how our interests influence how we see things. When we look at things in this way, we look for a way to make a purpose out of an image and we sort of go in with an expectation of gaining something from it. However, it is sort of therapeutic to look at things for their basic qualities and not what we can do for them or what they can do for us. When you look at the formal qualities of something (formal meaning the form in which it is in), you are trying to look at things realistically as possible. Some may argue that there is no reality, there is only perception, but when looking at and stating the formal aspects of something, it is with the goal of saying something objective that you cannot generally denote. For example, if you look at a picture of a pug, there are certain formalities that you can use to describe the way you “see” the pug. Qualities like the pugs coloring are one way to interpret how you see it; the pug has an off-white or a light beige colored fur, its nose is fairly black, it has a dark brown muzzle and ears. You could also comment on the textural qualities of this dog. You might say its skin is wrinkly or folded and its eyes are wet and shiny and some may say the fur is soft looking. Describing things like color, texture, and shape are part of a formal analysis. It can be a little harder than it initially seems because you have to force yourself to ignore the mental process that leads you from saying “the pug has wrinkly skin” to adding your own experiences and interests and then starting to look at it and say “it is a kind dog because his eyes are shiny and kind looking”. Looking at something for what it is and not what you get from it is a good foundation to build off of for informal analysis where it is ok to bring what you want to an image or situation. In informal analysis, which is something that is slightly easier because it is more natural to the human mind, you begin to confront your relationship to the image as a whole and start to move away from the parts that make it up. Now we can say things that the image of a pug makes us feel. You may look at the image and say “aww, how cute” or “what an ugly dog” but that is one of the great things about informal analysis, it is mostly opinion and can be scrutinized forever and no one is wrong or right. However, when you look at an image and make this evaluation, it is important to be able to recognize why you think that way. I would think that most people would not think of this dog as a threat. Because of its posture and facial expression as well as the smaller size of the dog, we do not feel fear. This is because most people have had some sort of interaction with a dog and know that you should be worried when a larger dog’s hacks rise up on its back and it bears its teeth and growls; when this happens a dog may attack or bite you. Thus, when we see a small and content, relaxed looking dog, we do not associate it with fear. There are a lot of things that go into our relationship with an image and some images make you work in more ways to get something out of them. By knowing the elements that go into the activity of seeing, we can begin to see things more wholly and understand why others see them differently.