Just Tell Me What You Saw

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Samson Captured by the Philistines Oil Guercino
One of the paintings used in The Art of Perception® class

There is a brilliant understatement in one of the Star Wars movies. The Jedi Master Yoda says, “Hard to see, the future is!”. Of course no one can see what has not happened yet, but you might be surprised that many, if not most people, do not see the present very clearly either. Police departments world-wide have long known that eye witnesses to crimes are unreliable simply because they either aren’t looking closely at an event, are panicked by the event, or apply personal visual biases to help interpret what they see. (See: Perspectives No. 7 - The Art of Seeing-Part I.) Even police officers, who should know how to observe and analyze a crime scene, have often failed to see the big picture and communicate accurately to their peers about what they saw. These are crucial skills for any professionals who must rely on their day-to-day observa…