Through a child’s eyes…
Inspiration is a hard thing to define. Today, I was inspired because I had a rare opportunity to see the world fresh and new and yet to be discovered, through a child’s eyes.
If you work in the corporate world long enough, especially in companies that clone personalities and produce a sort of mind-numbing sameness of thought, you can become desensitized to the beauty and wonder that surrounds you. Today I saw a group of bright children with a variety of personalities, before they have passed through enough societal filters to segregate out into groups that think alike. The comments and approaches of the group varied widely, as they looked at problems from all angles and even created new problems and extended solutions spontaneously. It was wonderful.
You don’t have to be very young to see through a child’s eyes, but it helps. I have an 85-year old father who can see through a child’s eyes, and always could. I hope to grow old in the way that he has.
When I set out to photograph the wonderful and varied state of California, one of the preparations that I make internally is to try to make myself open to the light, form, and interplay of elements of the environment that I am photographing. I try to shake off boredom, fatigue, visual clichés, and repetition, and to look for new ways of viewing the world. I don’t always succeed, but as Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young once said, “Life is for learning.”
–Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo
