10/3/09 Monica Garcia --- The Photography Reader

So this week I was not able to attend a museum again, but I did get the chance to read something out of the textbook for class, The Photography Reader. I decided to go with Ossip Brik’s What the Eye Does Not See, the title caught my attention and I was intrigued to see what it had to say. Although it is probably the shortest essay in the text I was able to learn something simple and important. She starts off by stating that the camera is not intended to imitate the human eye but to see and record what it does not see. Basically she goes on to state that things should be seen and photographed from different perspectives and not just right on. As a photo II student I thinking that this something that I need to be more aware of in my compositions. As I looked back at my work most of my shots are dead front center. I know that when I look at things around me I do look at them differently but never seem to have my camera around me to get the new and interesting point of view that I have encountered. Its really isn’t hard to climb a tree or sit on the floor. The essay also makes the point that we need to break away from the normal radius of the eye and the camera helps us do that. As a beginner there is so much I need to learn and it all can be over whelming at times but this is really a great starting point to open up a little.