Seeing Color

I was having a conversation the other day with a friend about a totally common and ordinary visual experience. We were looking at the color of a bedspread she'd gotten from a relative, and was commenting on how the colors were too "girly" for her toddler, a boy. Looking at the bed, I thought the colors didn't have a particularly gender-oriented leaning one way or the other. It occurred to me that the thought "girly" versus "boyish" are conceptual overlays that have no real meaning beyond our own ideas and preferences, most of which are societally-based. We discussed how, 100 years ago, the color pink was considered more of a boy color than a girl color. I was struck by how different it is to just see color as color, as it is, without giving it some additional meaning. In my training in contemplative photography, we are taught to work with our minds in letting go of the distraction of our thoughts and just see. Sometimes this hits home, in moments like these, when we encounter our own constructed view of the world blatantly masking our own direct experience.

As I glanced back at the bedspread, I felt gratitude for my connection to this approach to seeing, and for my ability to look with fresh eyes and appreciate the richness of the phenomenal world.

Some food for thought,

Cody