I’m So Happy To See You

My father’s father was a butcher. My father worked in the stockroom. Sometimes he couldn’t find what he was looking for in the endless parallelograms of rows and towering columns of shelves. He would spend hours looking, he claims, only to finally find the item directly in his eyeline. Sometimes you don’t see something until you really look.

The act of seeing begins when light travels through the cornea into the lens. The lens bends and focuses the rays onto the retina at the back of your eyeball. The retina is actually the part of your brain that converts patterns of light into neuronal signals.

I’ve heard seeing is the way we understand the information contained in visual light. People say a lot of things though. I’m not sure what to believe. The mirage isn’t just a hotel in the desert. See what I’m saying?

Then again, sometimes you see things when you’re not even looking for them. The thing about seeing someone is that you don’t feel exactly when it starts. I’ve never felt light splash on my retina. When you see someone they just appear in your view, in the frame. You just receive the neuronal signals. You rack your brain and your focus.

It is helpful to return to the image more than once, if at all possible. That’s generally a good way to make sure of what you are seeing. You may want to zoom in. You may want to memorize the lines.

That is why it’s so nice to have photos. This way I can see what you see. You can see what I see. We can see each other, seeing each other. We can make and examine images of each other, while we are attempting to—click. Get the picture?

I like the way you see things. I like the way you harness light. I like the way you turn a negative into a positive. I like how you’re not afraid of exposure. I like the way you know how to use exactly the right F-stop.

It can be difficult to see things at times. It is a pretty complicated process. There’s so much in the way—including my vitreous humor. But believe me when I say that you’re a sight for sore eyes.

I really don’t mind repeated images as long as they are not hallucinations. I don’t mind developing a pattern. But it turns out that a mirage isn’t an optical illusion at all. It’s an atmospheric phenomenon. It’s rare, but it’s real—you can even take a picture of it.

I guess seeing is believing.