Why are the pictures always in a rectangle? We do not see the world in rectangles, do we?
Indeed we do not see something that touches us in a rectangle or in a square. From the technical aspects of seeing and how our eyes work, we see it rather oval. And we see the most sharp and colourful in the centre of our eyes.
- Seeing fresh does not necessarily happen in the middle of our eyes, it often happens that something resonates it in the corner of our eyes. Then we adjust our head so we look better, and we focus our eyes to fully absorb it.
- Seeing fresh happens from an aligned state of being, centred at the level of our heart: first we feel, and then we look. Our heart always sees first! Intuition starts in the heart, and we feel this physically, and we might notice a gut feeling, or a little shock, or an expanded feeling or we exclaim an ‘aha’, or whisper a 'wow'. All sorts of signals from the heart, signs of an aligned state of being.
"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
The Little Prince
With the camera as a medium, we poetically express our experiences of fresh seeing, seeing from the heart.
Giving expression to a moment of seeing from the heart is possible with photography, drawing, painting, writing, poetry, sculpture, computer art and with all the creative forms of expression that are available. Every creative expression is a translation of a unique experience of inspiration, converted into a creative expression. Like it has never been done before!
Each medium has a specific size and requires specific skills to be able to express our experience of a moment of fresh seeing as naturally, precisely and relaxed as possible.
Practicing with the medium of photography means we work with a rectangle.
You have to get to know your medium of creative expression. You need know how to handle it in advance, and not be surprised by the specifics of it, so you can translate an experience of fresh seeing with all of your knowledge and experience with this specific medium, rather effortlessly. With all the possibilities and limitations that the medium entails.
Like driving a car; you need to get schooled in the basics of how to start the engine, how the gears work and how to switch the turn signals on and off, and then practice it in various traffic situations to become familiar, skilled and develop confidence in both driving and the dynamic of traffic. So you will not be surprised and on the edge most of the time and not needing to figure it out while participating on the highway, and passing an exit because you are too anxious and still busy figuring out the turning signals.
Also, not every fresh perception can be expressed in a rectangle or even with the camera. Sometimes filming is more suitable. And sometimes the best thing to do is to let go. And walk away.
Nowadays you can set the setting on the camera whether you want to photograph with a rectangle, square or panoramic image. I prefer to use the entire sensor, the rectangle. With every other format as a setting you only use part of the sensor. Which I feel is a waste of the sensor.
I also find it easier and more pleasant to keep it simple with one format; the size of the entire sensor.
Tip: get to know our camera and your objective and become familiar with its basics.
