Seeing With My Eyes

"How do we gain visual literacy? We pursue it like we do anything else we want to learn. First of all seeing requires spending time slowing down. We open ourselves to the visual world by sitting in one place long enough to really see how light and color and texture fill our eyes. When we have learned to see with our eyes, we will be better prepared also to see with our hearts."

Seeing. Most of us live with the gift of visual sight every day of our lives. I've been taking a photography class this Fall, and I'm learning how I, Charity, uniquely see and take in the world, light, shadows, color, people, etc. I read the above quote the night before the class started in a required reading. It caught my attention. I've been practicing it and contemplating it ever since.

After spending some time in this all, here are a few things I've learned: a) if we don't slow down, we will probably miss something beautiful, b) God is big and His design is way beyond me but I can open my eyes and enjoy it, c) i will probably see something different every minute of the day depending on the angle or perspective, d) my eyes see through the window of my soul and all five senses combined, e) a camera cannot always capture what my eyes are seeing/experiencing and that's ok, f) seeing light is important, g) you have to practice and train your eyes to really see---this will be a part of my life for the rest of my days. It's nothing that happens overnight. It can even be super frustrating at times. It really is such an amazing gift though.

What do I see? What am I drawn to? How will God use me to capture images that will speak beauty to another? What is beautiful to me? How do I see light? Is beauty something that I can find or will it be something I stumble upon? All questions I've been pondering. It is good to slow down. Look around. Look inside. Become aware.

I am a words girl. I always will be. This seeing stuff challenges the heck outta me, because sometimes the words need to go away and we need to be silent and just see and take something in. And as a photographer, I capture and communicate visually. Not with words. They are both a part of me. So it naturally collides within me a little bit. But, I'm learning there is a place for both.

In the past few weeks I have taken over 1600 photos, purchased an external hard drive to store the photos of my life on, slowed down, looked at many objects from different perspectives, positioned myself under things and on top of things, become freer with my camera, have loosened my perfectionistic tendency behind the camera, and little by little am letting go---learning how to see with the eyes of my heart.