New Section: "Learning to observe"
"People think with different kinds of symbols, such as words, sounds, and pictures. . . . [V]isual images. When a runner begins a race, he visualizes the distance he has to cover to reach his goal. . . . When a photographer observes objects, scenes, and events, he or she tries to visualize how best to record them on film.
We think with three kinds of visual images -- the kind we observe (physical objects), the kind we imagine (visual ideas and dreams), and the kind we create (a sketch, a painting, or photograph). . . . [T]he best visual thinkers are able to move easily between these modes, and even to use all of them at the same time.
The purpose of this book is to help you improve your visual thinking in all three ways -- to observe more accurately, to develop your imagination, and to express a theme or subject more effectively with pictures.
Let's start with observing. It can be either casual or "focused." Focused observation . . . means simply examining things in detail and believing they are important in their own right. Here are two different approaches to assist you in developing your powers of focused observation.
The first one, "thinking sideways," is especially useful to photographers who want to break out of old habits. It is simply a matter of building up a mass of visual information about your subject matter by observing it from many points of view. Photographic exercises in thinking sideways are a serious, but entertaining, business.
The second approach, "relaxed attentiveness," helps you to observe things more exactly by concentrating on clearing your mind. As your powers of observation grow, so will your imagination, . . . making pictures that effectively express the subject and your response to it."
p. 26
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