Perception

In my color theory class I was taught that there is a bias in all photography; the photographer. I look at life a certain way and it is reflected in how and what I shoot. But there is another bias in all photography and that is the viewer. No matter what the content of an image or emotion I feel I’ve captured, it’s unlikely we will see the same photo in the same way.

It reminds me of that old fable about the blind men and the elephant. You can read the whole poem here, but the just of it is this: Several blind men gather around an elephant to try and understand what exactly it is. One man feels the elephant’s side and thinks it’s like a wall. Another blind man feels the elephant’s trunk and thinks it’s like a snake. Yet another blind man feels the elephant’s legs and thinks it’s like a tree; And so forth and so on. The moral being that we all experience things differently and can't get the big picture from a little piece.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and on a different level than photography and elephants. A couple months ago I was talking to a coworker of mine who is greatly misunderstood. This woman has been called a number of bad names, been told she is lazy, and laughed at to her face. Yet she takes it all in with a grace I envy. I know it gets to her, she has told me that, and sometimes her frustrations get the better of her. But she keeps her head up and pushes forward. What most of our other coworkers don’t know is that she has been through a lot in her life. I don’t want to get into specifics because of anonymity, but she really does have quite the story. After she opened up to me I felt immediately humbled. My struggles are nothing compared to hers. She has overcome bad circumstances and even now works two full time jobs to support her family and future dreams.

I feel like I was one of those blind men that only knew one piece of the puzzle.

My coworker’s story reawakened something in me that had long been sleeping. I love people. I love their stories and histories and hopes and dreams. When I was younger I longed to hear what people had to say- what advice they had to give and what tales they had to share. I wanted to know their triumphs and where they faltered. I wanted to know how they saw the world.

I guess life got to me a bit. I got wrapped up in my own world. Not that it’s bad to take time for yourself. But when you are too focused on looking inward you lose sight of everyone else around you. And even though I hold a piece of the puzzle, too; I can’t do much with just one piece.

We have to remember that our perception is biased. We can’t hold the trunk of an elephant and make conclusions about what an elephant is. Life just doesn’t work that way. An open mind and understanding can work wonders on even the blindest of men.