Estimating how often I had passed by this arrangement of cute robots (water and electricity dispensers) in the train station of Freilassing, where I change trains when commuting to work, lead to a figure in the thousands. Don’t ask me why it took so long until I realised this image. One explanation – the one which I like best – is that photography leads to opening the eyes leads to better photography leads to … You get the picture. It could be that perception can be trained like the biceps.
I like these “robots” — the snow makes them stand out. The almost hoses trailing off to the right adds to the effectiveness of the image. This image makes me smile.
While I think creative vision is partially an ability/talent we’re born with, I absolutely believe everyone can learn to better execute these skills and improve their creative vision. Photography is a wonderful tool for exercising those abilities.
Earl, creativity is certainly an impartial property of all humans. Our development and also differentiation probably starts (at least) at our birthday. And of course it’s a bit of a luxury for which we should be grateful, when we can dedicate sufficient time to develop it further. Just recently I saw the images of a project Steve McCurry did with marginalized young people in Buenos Aires (http://stevemccurry.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/ciudad-oculta-the-hidden-city/), and I was astonished about the results.
Yes, I agree. You are totally right about the change of perception – easy to reproduce when in project mode, đ – doing a project about graffiti – I perceive many things as graffiti – doing a beer can project I see metal all around me … you get the picture. All in all, yes, definitely, my way to see has changed drastically.
The repetition of the robots from the photo’s front to the background, with their “tails” is very nice – this and their little cute ears make me smile …
This change in the way of seeing is the main reason I try to keep up a high frequency of photographing (and posting, supporting intrinsic motivation with extrinsic), and I also can see the improvements. The image above was taken in a little more than 20 seconds as the train was already preparing to leave again. The first exposure was blurred, but since quite some time I take two whenever possible – I just don’t fully trust myself.
I hope they don’t fail. It could be deadly. I like your image.
Sherri, I guess I was safe as it was freezing cold and they probably couldn’t move đ
The really deadly things here you can’t fully see: In the background are the tanks and lorries of our soldiers, departing to Afghanistan. I hope they come back safe.