Seeing Vs Looking What does it mean to be a photographer and other topics – Tutor led by Andrea Norrington 16.9.20
This topic has become of increasing interest to me particularly since I started level 2. Andrea shared a blog post from Grant Scott on the difference between looking and seeing:
“I believe that it is the photographer’s responsibility to define the difference between someone who looks and someone who see’s. Looking is relatively easy and therefore open to all, seeing is more difficult and requires the eye to be trained and regularly exercised.” (Scott,2020).
We discussed “Slow looking” and I shared my experiences with the photograher’s Gallery which I’ve already documented on my blog. Maria Gainza, a 43-year-old Argentinian art writer, whose writing is sometimes compared to John Berger also writes about slow looking; she writes about how we are never looking at just one thing: we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves, “As Thoreau wrote, ‘It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see’ (Haig, 2020)
In letters from Toven, Jansson the writer of Momins suggest how you should look slowly:
“ In a church say, don’t go systematically round the walls casting an eye on every Madonna or crucifix and find you remember none of them. But just stand where it is at it’s most beautiful and drink in the feeling of the church.” (Letters from Tove, 2019)
As a photographer:
- Learn to see through the clutter
- Take one subject and really focus on it
- Have a familiar place or subject that you photograph
So how do we see differently?
- Beau Lotto Deviate book was suggested again! I have it – I must read it!
- Mona Lisa’s smile film! Watch! Where the students learn to really see.
- Think about emotionally experiencing as well looking.
David Suchet photographs and describes how his father taught him Photography:
- The most important lens on your camera is your eye
- Don’t take what you see, take your emotional reaction
- Note how you react to what you see and see if you can replicate what you feel when you see it.
You need to keep exercising the visual muscle by taking images; indeed I was listening to a podcast by David Hurn (FfotonWales, 2016) where he said exactly the same thing.
The session underlined the view that I’d already developed, but was useful.
References:
FfotonWales (2016) David Hurn : Part 1 — ffoton. At: https://www.ffoton.wales/interviews/2016/1/david-hurn-1 (Accessed 28/09/2020).
Gainza, M (2019) Optic Nerve, Penguin: London.
Haig, M (2020) The Midnight Library, Canongate: Edinburgh.
Letters from Tove (2019) [Radio programme] At: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000c9rf (Accessed 17/12/19)
Lokke, M (2012) ‘Photographs Not Taken’, The New Yorker, At: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/photographsnot-taken (Accessed 16/09/20)
Lotto. B (2017) Deviate: The Creative Power of Transforming Your Perception, Weidenfeld & Nicholson: London.
Norrington, A. (2020) Photography Zoom Talks 2019/2020. At: https://oca.padlet.org/andreanorrington/laq2kvhc5mpg (Accessed 16.9.20).
Scott, G (2020) What is the Difference Between Looking and Seeing? At: https://unitednationsofphotography.com/2020/09/08/what-is-the-difference-between-looking-and-seeing/ (Accessed 16/09/20)
Steacy, W (ed) (2012) Photographs Not Taken, Daylight Community Arts Foundation: USA
Photography 2: Documentary 