One of the things that has always bothered me is mankind’s tendency to define the way things should be..according to us. Perhaps it is the result of watching too much sci-fi – but perhaps someday we will get a real kick in our perception pants. Out of the millions of species on this planet, it seems rather arrogant doesn’t it? I know, I know – not many other options out there.

It is one of those things while you are out in the woods, you stop somewhere and sit on a rock thinking – what does this area look like to that frog, or that deer, or that butterfly? We know certainly know from biology that different animal species have different ways of processing light – some see color, some do not, some see light that we cannot. Wouldn’t that be the best invention ever for a pair of glasses that could make you see the same way another species sees.. Species Vision.. coming to a TV infomercial soon!

So sometimes when I am thinking about photography, I wonder.. what if there were another species on this planet that could also photograph and publish pictures relative to their way of seeing? Put aside for the moment that making a camera for a fish to hold is a designer’s nightmare – but probably giving a camera to a chimpanzee isn’t to far fetched of an experiment. Of course, the camera would have to be capable of seeing the way their own particular anatomy functions. What would they tend to photograph? Food? The opposite sex? The world around them? Grains of dirt? Hmmm.. all sounds kind of familiar!

I’ll bet birds would tend to bullseye their subjects – they seem like very determined, single focus creatures. Monkees? Well, probably some pretty strange pictures – probably some obscene ones also! And the fish-cam? Maybe group portraits?

Ok, before this gets a little out of hand – you are probably wondering why the heck this stuff came to mind today? Well, I was bored playing with a few pictures and inverted the colors in them – you know – the way those things called negatives used to look. 🙂 And of course, they looked strange as usual. But then I thought – OK – looks strange to me – but what about to someone else? Who am I to say this looks wrong? It looks strange according to my own preconceived notions of reality. What about to a fish? And that of course started the downward spiral into this post. But the basic idea is still there – sometimes we need to step back and take another look at our perceptions and definitions of the way things are. And no – I have not been drinking. 🙂