How We Choose to See

“Don’t go through life, grow through life.” – Eric Butterworth

Fun fact about me: I love to read. For a while, I wasn’t consistent with reading, but for the last few years, I try to read daily. The best way to do this is to always have the next book ready. I figured if I am going to tell my students to read daily, then I should be reading daily with them. Right now, I just started a book on Christopher Columbus. When I was growing up, everything I heard about Columbus was very positive. However, as more historians start to share about his history, we realize that he might not be as heroic as I grew up learning. In the introduction of this book, the author talks about how Columbus is one of those figures in history whom we choose to see how we want to see them. We do this with the people in our lives. We choose how we view them. Some people we view negatively because all we look for is what they are doing wrong, and we ignore what they are doing right. We should strive to look for the complete picture of how we view someone.

During the summer, I had the opportunity to tour Dunrobin Castle in Scotland. I wonder how the people in the area saw those who lived in and visited the castle. I wonder how the visitors of the castle back when people lived in it saw those who lived there. Understanding those perspectives gives us a complete history of the area. While I visited, I tried to learn a little bit about the castle’s history and capture as many photos as possible. All of these photos I captured I used a lens from a company called Retropia. I love this lens because it is lightweight. This makes it perfect to bring with me while on a walk. I also love that it is made from recycled disposable camera lenses. When I capture photos with it, it looks like the shot was captured with a film camera. It has various imperfections in the shot that give it a retro look. I also like how the lens doesn’t need to be focused. Just like an old-school disposable camera, all you have to do is point and shoot. I used a lens to capture the past that made these photos look like they were captured in the past.