Seeing without noticing

I sometimes find that my eye sees photographs without always realising what is in the frame. Sometimes, when I see the result, I’ll notice that someone was staring at me intently without me having realised at the time. Sometimes there will be something in the scene that I didn’t want.

It’s not that Im not paying attention – I am! I think it’s more that sometimes my brain will focus on some element that I think will make a good photograph while filtering out certain elements. The things I mentally remove don’t usually spoil the resulting picture, but I do sometimes wonder how on earth I didn’t spot them at the time.

The picture today is a case in point. I spotted this intrument (a double-bass?) partially obsured by foliage and the edge of a marquee while musicians played beside the Grand Canal in Venice. I saw the instrument, the leaves, the white fabric, and the woman with the violin, but somehow completely missed the fact that someone was stood playing the doble-bass! Perhaps they were not playing their part when I took the photo and the bow was still, but I still failed to notice the peson’s legs just behind.

I wonder if, had I been alone when taking the shot, and not with my wife, whether I would have noticed more? I always find that taking photos when I’m not alone is a much more difficult prospect as I’m concious of not being selfish and going to the same lengths I might normally take when getting a photograph.

Olympus Trip 35 & Colorplus. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 6 May 2023.