Alright lets see if anyone is still on this bastard.

I plan on the next few days to start working on senses. I have a program to work the senses from Tom Brown. If anyone is interested then I'll post it. If not I wont. I dont need a public out cry just a few people.

interesting, what kind of program?

Sounds cool, lets here some more.

You already know that I want more training......why do you incessantly tease me Mark? Yes post the program so I can do more than watch TV all day and answer dumb questions from people who should have been eviscerated in the womb by a sharpened clothes hanger.

hook us up!

Exercise 2-1 The same new thing

Combat the same old thing syndrome. Think about exploring a new place for the first time compared to your tenth time. Look at how much you miss now that you once have seen. Look from new vantage points etc. Get low look at things from a different angles.

A. Avoid tunnel Vision
One major issue is looking for one thing or a set of things. One reason hunters get shot every year is because many have condition themselves to see deer and nothing else.

B. Dont try so hard
Like trying to force yourself to go to sleep and you cant the same thing happens with this. Dont try overly hard just experience, dont try to experience. Look everywhere but dont try to find things. (may have to write this out better)

C. Seeing the Expected

Familiarity can be a curse and a blessing. If you open your senses it can easily work to your advantage. You know where to look for things and see things in more detail then normal. As you walk through your house etc, look for signs of insects, spider webs that you commonly miss etc. Try thins on everything.

D. Splatter Vision
This technique of looking was used by native americans to find game. The human eye picks up movement far faster then shap or color. Especially at night. Using splatter vision will help you catch animals, people etc more easily.
The technique is simple. Look at the horizon and allow your vision to "spread out." Instead of focusing on a single object, allow the eyes to soften and take in everything in a wide half-sphere. Everything in your vision is greatly increased. Your vision will be a little fuzzy because your eyes arent focused, but they are now more sensitive. To identify a movement all you do is focus back in.

Next 2-2 Wide-angle Seeing

Exercise 2-2 Wide Angle Vision
This exercise will allow you to expand your vision around the sides. As a kid you may have done this. Take your hands and extend them out behind you. Slowly move them forward while wiggling your fingers. This will help you see the boundaries. Also by doing this it will help your brain recognize that it has larger limits then it uses. Also try doing this above your head nad below.

Exercise 2-3 Stand on a building/hill
The secret to splatter vision is to go in and out of it. The best way to practice this is on the top of a hill or for all you UE nuts, the top of a building. Sit up on top and start going into splatter vison. Now each movment check by focusing in. Once you have identified it go back into splatter vision.

Anyone test this? If so I'll add more.

I have been able to spot more mice running around the compound, I might be more aware now or maybe its mating season. Either way I am seeing more.

I am having a hard time zoneing out personally. I dont know if I am already normally in splatter vision when I am out or I just am not doing it right.

Exercise 2-4 The Edge of Sight

Walk slowly through the woods with your head up and your eyes on the horizon. As you walk, direct your attention to the edges of your vision. Try to pick up the things that are passing on the outermost fringes-trees, bushes, logs, etc. Then notice that without moving your head or your eyes, you can be aware of almost anything in your field of vision just by choosing to see it. If you want, you can direct your attention to the ground passing beneath your feet. Or to the trail directly infront of you. Or to any combination of items within your view. It's a little like watching a movie, being awayre of everything on the screen of your mind. This is splatter vision at its best.

Exercise 2-5 Small world

Go out and find a patch of ground 1 foot by 1 foot. Start off from a standing positon and slowly get closer and closer as if you were falling from a great distance. Explore that one foot of ground in detail, look for insects, the shape of things etc. Spend at least 15 minutes on this one foot. Imagine, do anything but keep focused on it. Now slowly move away and notice how much detail, and difference you see in the area. This helps you see more detail at a glance.

Camera Vision

One of the greatest compliments you can pay a photographer is to say he or she has "a good eye." What this means is that the photographer is able to see something unique in a scene that most of us would consider commonplace. He or she has developed the habit of seeing the way the camera sees - of blocking out large portions of the landscape and focuing only on theose parts that can be transformed into a interesting subject with a pleasing composition. The limited range of the lens and the latness of the picture make it important to get rid of the confusing elements, and to "see" the scene in a fresh and exciting way.
Photography is excellent practice for observation training. Taking pictures forces you to pay attention to lines, patterns, lighting, and composition; to search out interesting subjects; and to find the fascinating in the commonplace.

Exercise 2-6: Close Framing

Even without a camera you can practice picking out the unusual in your surroinding simply by "framing" your vision through a smale hole. Create a circle with your thumb and index finger. By looking through this you can frame and see the details, while still using your splatter vision.

Magnified Vision

You can also do this at distance using binoculars in much the same way as your fingers. However you will not enjoy the use of splatter vision.

Exercise 2-7 Ant's eye view

Using a maginifing glass will also allow you to see things in a different perspective. Use this to explore the ground closely.

Exercise 2-8 Artistic Observation

Blur your eyes a bit and forget the objects themselves. Look instead for the shadows, shapes, textures, and colors, and lighting. Let meanings seep away. As soon as you have a n inclination to name someingt, let it become color-shape-pattern-shadow again. See how long you can keep this exercise going without getting caught in names and old perceptions.

Exercise 2-9 Shadows and Spaces

Look at a scene in your enviroment and imagine that the shadows and spaces are actually solid. Instead of focuing on the substance, look at the emptiness. If you are looking at a woodsy scene, ignore the trees and concentrate on the spaces between the brancehs and leaves. If you are looking at a bird, notice how the sky wraps perfectly around its head, wings, legs, and feet.

Exercise 2-10 Apprecationg Color

Look at a scene or collection of objects with the intention of appreacting its colors. Do not try to understand the scene or associate it with any past experince. Just see the colors for themselves alone. Let your eyes absorb their richness and variety.
Pick out individual colors in the scene and describe them to yourself. You may find this impossible without resorting to emotions, snesations, and past experinces. You might find yourself using words like warm, cold, light, dark, etc.

Exercise 2-11 The dance of light

in the end, all of the seprate aspects of sight including clor texture shadow form and many others depend on the quality of light. This a fundamental to all of the precious exercises. Pick an area and watch the dramatic changes it undergose as it reflects the fast-chaning light of a sunrise or sunset. If you are patinet enough to stay in one place long enough, you will witness a complete trnasformation in the appearance of the area.

(Next Auditory sense 2-12 to 2-14)

Funny, I do a lot of those things normally... I found that shooting black and white really taught me to "see" the world around me. Either with film or digital. Harder with film, as you have to see the world in b/w, realizing that colours will not turn out on the picture. It really forces you to look at shapes and textures and tones and all. And with a digital, just turn it to b/w and look at the world through the LCD and see it differently. Even more fun is to pop an IR filter on the camera look at the LCD and see the world a whole other way.

What I think most sharpened my senses and made me see the world in a totally different light was something that is going to sound stupid and I am in no way condoning. Acid. Used to do a lot of it in my teens and it must have rewired something in my head and is really what gave me the ability to pick out detail. Sounds dumb but it is true.

Same here, when I started doing photography at 13 I started looking at things without focusing on them but had no idea that it was an actual practice, much less that it had a name. Its now really easy for me to focus and unfocus my eyes because I've been doing it for a few years now. This is really interesting. Thanks, Mark.

Same again. Very interesting

anyone in the GTA who wants to work on honing senses and camouflage/concealment is welcome to PM and we can hook up for it.

and I'll see if I can the PLQ (I) instructors guide or at least the section on situational awareness and link it up.