I grew up with a film camera and knew that every shot I took needed to be carefully crafted because it would cost real money to have it developed and printed. Enter the digital camera... aha! Now I can shoot at will and review hundred of pictures...for free. (My darkroom photographer husband thinks this is 'bad form,' but he's tolerant.)
However, I know he has also had some experience with this phenomenon. You take a picture and it is not until later that you really see, I mean REALLY SEE, what is there.
A couple years ago we were on Spring Break with my daughter and her family. I was taking pictures like mad of all the granddaughters at the beach. A few weeks ago I was looking through old photos to find something to paint and discovered one of the four year old walking along the beach with late afternoon shadows. I was up on a deck when she walked by so it is at an interesting angle.
I began to paint it - actually I sketched it and did a watercolor underpainting...planning a pastel. Picture this...I am painting away...finding the right pastels to paint her arms and her leg...yikes! Only one leg! It's not until I am well into this painting that I discover that this child has only one leg! The unusual angle highlights the child and shadows...her dress hides the other leg. My head knows that it is there, but I NEVER saw that it wasn't!
Now I am laughing to myself (and at myself) and finishing the painting to give to her for her sixth birthday.
And, I am wondering...did anyone else notice that she had only one leg?
