Perception

Some of you might have seen this picture already. For those of you who have not, please indulge me and let's play a game. Here goes, what is your first impression when you take a look at the picture?

tick..tock..tick..tock..brnngg time's up!

Ok, you got your impressions by now I assume. This is a classic optical illusion of an old woman or young woman image. There is really no right or wrong answer here, it all depends on how you perceive the image.

I ended my previous article with the phrase "Master the rules, before you break them". In photography once you master the technical aspects of it (aperture, shutter speed, exposure, reciprocal rule, composition etc.) then you can now move to the next step. Break the rules and try to find your own vision.

Because in photography as in any creative pursuit, there really are no rules. It is all based on how we perceive the world, and for each and everyone of us, it is unique. The only thing that hinders us from that process of freedom is the environment we belong to or the belief system of that era.

From infancy, we collect, correlate, and learn to transmit sensory data. The sum of these impressions make up our mind's internal model of the reality around us. With maturity, value judgments replace sensory data as primary factors determining our regard for someone or some thing. - from the book, The Warrior's Edge

Remember that before Columbus set sail for the new world, the belief system of that time was that the world is flat (thanks to Thomas Friedman, the world is flat again!) and that the horizon is the edge of the world. That is why fishermen or seafarers of that time hugged the coast for the fear of falling off the earth. So Columbus set sail, broke the rules and the rest is history.

This is more important now more than ever since here in the digital age we can access a library of thousands upon thousands of photographs and we can only ask ourselves, how can our photos look unique?

Tip:
When taking a picture of say a toy, try to resist the urge to take the same pictures you see on the postcards or the hundreds of the same photos you see on the web. Instead let your mind be free and capture the picture the way your mind and heart tells you to.

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