While reading this, it was made very clear, that observing is more than looking at something. On the second page, we read about a painter, Jasper Johns, who paints everyday objects like flashlights, light bulbs, and flags. He does this because he realized after a while, common objects he would see, he would just recognize the object for what it is, and what observes the object in its little details. So, he does this to appreciate the objects more, and it gave me a realization that I do the same thing. No, I do not paint objects, but I tend to look at objects and believe I am observing them when I am truly just recognizing them. I am glad I started reading this a little bit before my last day of taking pictures for project three because it gave me an opening to find objects to photograph, I may have not fully observed.
Jasper Johns point truly fascinated me, but another part of the reading I was intrigued by what was on pages 39 and 40, about observing with your sense of smell. Regardless of the smell was lovely and felt rather homely, or it was terrible, like the smell of rotten eggs, it helps indicate certain things, especially objects. Cleaning supplies and baked goods (hopefully) should have juristically different smells, so it’s crucial to use not only your eyes, but your nose to observe. I think I may have gotten more of a chuckle out of this than many because sadly at the beginning of 2021, I got covid and lost my smell. To this day, I have yet to get my smell back, and the way I can observe things is very different than many people. Just like people who are blind, they are limited because of a loss of a sense, so the way they would observe something like an apple would be different than how I would, knowing I don’t have a smell.
Observing:
Not a single berry was the same. Some we bigger than others; some had bruises that caused the skin to shrivel up like prunes. Grasping the berries, some were firm, if you were to pinch hard enough, it may pop. While others would melt in your fingers the moment your prints touched them. To follow the thin stem, they were soft green leaves, feeling like velvet, while the veins on the leaf were like stitching on the velvet. The contrast of colors, from the fiery red, to the soft green, allow nature to stand out on its own but complement one another. The berries and colors remind me of Christmas, that a glowing joy brews in my stomach, making me excited for what’s to come.