204: Focus on How We See

What if you can make the photograph even if you can’t picture it first? In this episode of The Focus Trap, Amy and Casey dig into aphantasia — Casey’s inability to picture images in her mind — and what it means for photography. But the conversation quickly gets bigger than visualization: How much of “seeing” a photograph happens in your head, and how much comes from experience, pattern recognition, and doing the same thing enough times to know what works? Amy can visualize in full 3D, but even she doesn’t walk around with finished photographs already formed in her head. She talks about the difference between having a shot list and actually visualizing a shot, why years of photographing agility let her anticipate framing and timing before the dog runs, and how learning to read a photograph is a skill built through experience, including plenty of experiments and dead ends nobody sees. Casey looks at the same questions from the opposite end of the visualization spectrum. She talks about scouting locations when she can’t mentally put a dog into the scene, editing when she can’t picture the finished photograph, and why the predictability of studio work suddenly makes a lot more sense. The more they pull apart what actually requires visualization and what comes from skill and experience, the more the answer keeps coming back to the same annoying thing: reps. They also talk about: Aphantasia, visual memory, and face blindness Why shot lists aren’t necessarily visualization Learning to read a photograph instead of picturing the finished edit Why the creative process is much less linear than social media makes it look Watching the edges of the frame instead of the subject Using saturation, blur, and black and white to make your brain see a photo differently How subject knowledge and anticipation can matter more than visualization Understanding how your brain works so you can find the tools that work for you Along the way, there are conversations about Casey and her mom combining their mental skills to identify a VIP in Washington D.C., stuffed animals as legitimate scouting equipment, Amy’s mental map of badly lit agility venues, an eagle photo she really needs to print, whether “de-enhance” is a word, and the mutual certainty that neither Amy nor Casey wants anything to do with wedding photography. Do you have Aphantasia? Here's are a couple of DIY tests to check it out. https://cognitivetrain.com/aphantasia-test/ https://aphantasiatest.com/blog/apple-imagination-scale-what-the-red-apple-test-says-about-your-minds-eye ------------------- Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode. Email us at [email protected] 📸 Find Amy and learn more about her photography coaching: https://www.skool.com/focus-makers-5374/about 🧠 Find Casey and learn more about what she's up to: www.caseyjourdan.com And follow The Focus Trap @thefocustrap on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok (00:00) - Focus on How We See (00:43) - Photographic Memory (03:00) - Aphantasia and the Red Apple Test (11:28) - Back to the Photography Piece (18:39) - Why Studio Work Feels Safer (26:28) - Shot Lists vs. Seeing It in Your Head (44:44) - Tools, Reps, and Not Using Your Brain as an Excuse