The first shot...

The past couple of weeks I have started to really appreciate the fact I have sight... nothing artistic in it... just the ability to see things and how I have been taking it for granted for the 24 years of my life. It was just something that I was automatically given, something I have never sat down and thought about in as much depth as I have done the past weeks.

Think about it, most of us have this amazing ability but do we celebrate it?

Without sight, I couldn't see colours, shapes and textures... I couldn't see the little things that make me smile, whether it be an attractive woman with a stain on her top or my niece smiling. Without sight, I couldn't take mental photographs of the last time I saw a friend or ex-lover or family... I wouldn't beable to vision past holidays and events in my life... I wouldn't be able to recall those moments in life which I want to forget, I want to remember, I want to re-live.

Then you remember that some people don't have such an ability. After thinking so much of this power you have, there are so many people out there who can't see, who can't take pictures with their eyes, who can't witness the beauty of sight. It began to upset me in a way I never thought possible. Still does. Imagine not being able to see a sunset? Imagine not being able to *know* what you look like or even what the colour red looks like... what emotions it brings out. For something you have taken for granted, it would surely be devastating to be without.

On a whim, I decided I wanted to take up photography... I consulted a few friends on which camera to purchase, read up reviews and made my choice from the many cameras out there.

Since pressing "Complete this transaction", I have seen colours, shapes and textures more than just something I actually see, but as a constant living photograph... not a movie... but loads of split second photographs. My vision stutters every now and again as it focuses more on certain subjects, envoking an emotion, stirring up a voice inside shouting "I wish I could show this to someone".

It arrived today and this is my first shot. Cheesey I know, but this is what I see and what I can't wait to see... through the lens that is... into the new world I will see and capture and if I find the time from the living photographs I see from day to day and get the camera out, I might even show you what I see... maybe you will then feel what I had felt when I saw this or that.

Whether I will be any "good" at this, I don't know and I guess only time will tell... but whatever happens, I am truly thankful to have been given the gift of sight.