A recent post from Improvised Life used this wonderful phrase, “Practice Looking. Cultivate seeing.” They cited an example of looking down and seeing the word “Triumph” etched in the pavement. A jolt, for sure. I practice looking and seeing with my camera. Here are a few examples I’ve found recently while looking up, looking down or just sitting.
Sit
I pass by the wall below many times per week, yet have never seen the words “Live Free” etched here. One day, I took the time to stop and sit on a bench across from this wall with the intention of photographing people walking by. Only then did I see the words that had been hidden in plain sight all along.
Look Up
Blue skies, storm clouds, birds, tree tops, wires, rainbows. There’s always something new to see when we look up.
Look Down
Accidental art, fallen blossoms, textures, and chalk messages are just some of the things you’ll find when you look down.
Here is one of my favourite quotes about looking and seeing.
“Seeing, in the finest and broadest sense, means using your senses, your intellect, and your emotions. It means encountering your subject matter with your whole being. It means looking beyond the labels of things and discovering the remarkable world around you.” ― Freeman Patterson
I love all these images that accompany your text of cultivating seeing! I love looking up and down too, there’s always something new when we take the time to really see! I love the brick wall (such a lovely warm colour) with the words: “live free” scratched onto a brick. Those two little birds on the wire against the deep blue of the sky: wonderful!
Great post Kim. I often have to remind myself to look up and down, but I am usually rewarded when I do. I love the words you saw on that wall for the first time. When this happens to me I always take it as a message I am ready to receive!
What a wonderful reminder to take the time to really look and see – with excellent examples of what wonders await us when we do.