“Hey, Juliette!” Yelled June, running over across the sidewalk.

Juliette turned to look, hair brushing past her shoulder, and smiled, saying, “Hey, what’s the next one?”

June came over, smiling, the camera precariously held in her left hand, short, black hair wild over her face as she jogged over to a stop. She quickly brushed it off and thrust the camera towards her friend. “Look at this one, this one’s really great!” She said enthusiastically, smile never faltering.

Juliette looked at the camera screen: In it stood a high resolution picture of the nearly-setting sun, just above the mirroring sea. The rays of light all stood captured in the moment, rigid while the water’s light danced, weaved this way and that, broken only by the waves and the shore. It was a truly beautiful picture. “Wow,” Said Juliette, grinning, “That’s another great picture you’ve managed to get. You should consider making this into a hobby of yours, at least.”

June asked, “Hey, am I being way too excited about this stuff?”

Juliette laughed and said, the happy tone riding on the wind, “Naw, how come you ask?”

June’s face was plain now, and she said in a direct tone, “Well, apart from the first one, and maybe not even that one, you haven’t really been surprised or excited about these pictures. Normally, people get amazed at even something that just looks nice on camera, and these are a bit more than just nice things, you know?”

Juliette looked at her, and sighed under her breath. She looked back down at the camera and gave it back, and knocked the thoughts around in her head until they sorted themselves into a sentence. “I just don’t find myself amazed at the majority of photos.”

June peered at her, half joking, and said, “Well you aren’t like most people, but how come?”

Juliette put her arm around June and said, “Start scrolling through the camera June.” As she did, all the photos started popping up: The latest great photo, a picture of the stretching beach, the docks, the trees with light shooting through the top layer like soft arrows’ traces, and so on they went, apart from a few close-up shots of some guys that she probably thought looked nice and pictures of her and June having fun. After she laughed at the ones different than the serious pics, Juliette asked her, “So looking at them all, what do you see?”

June said, “It’s different in every one, but I like the lighting in all of them. Why?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Juliette said. “Looking at them all, it’s all just pixels on a screen right? But it isn’t just that of course.” She smiled and slowly flicked through all the pictures again. “These are all really good pictures, and have you ever wondered why they don’t look like what we see every day?”

June just shrugged and said, “I guess? But what kind of a question is that?”

Juliette giggled and said, “Well, it’s a technical one really. Turn the camera around. See that thing staring back at you?”

June sighed and said, “No, Juliette, I really don’t, I haven’t been using this thing for a while now, or anything like that really.”

“Well,” Juliette said, laughing a little, “This functions like our eyes, but has a higher resolution. That’s why we see pictures much better. I’m sure you understand that, right?”

“Yeah.” June said.

“So that’s why we see all those amazing pictures of a bird in which every single feather is beautifully seen. But,” Juliette said, “Have you ever thought of it as an eye?”

“No, that’s a strange way of seeing it.” June said, smiling slightly.

Juliette smiled at that and said, “So, an interesting way of seeing it is that you’re looking at this from the point of view of the camera. Do you know what that means when you get a new camera every time?”

“Not really, no.” June said.

“You’re looking from a different eye every time.” Juliette said. She let it sit for a moment and continued, “So, from every different lens, is a different eye. You see all these different beautiful moments captured, and each is different than the last one. Somebody could say it all looks the same in the lighting or whatever, but really, these are all different, whether in camera or, if not, different in the taker of the picture. At least, I don’t feel like any of it is the same.”

“Wow, that’s one way to look at it.” June said, with eyebrows unmoving and a strong voice, showing that she was thinking through all of it.

“Mhm.” Juliette said, smiling. “And while every one of these can be amazing, can be beautiful, can be incredible, it’s also a bit distracting.”

“How so?” June said, although Juliette felt that she was almost there herself.

“Look back down at the picture. It’s all from the point of view of the camera, a beautiful world, right?” Juliette said.
“Yeah, it’s a very beautiful world... from the view of the camera.” June said.

“And when you look at it through these lens, do you still see all this when you take it off? Does it look as beautiful anymore?” Juliette said.

“No.” June said, softly.

“That’s why I say that it can be distracting. A lens like a camera’s is great though, don’t get me wrong.” She said, smiling.

“Yeah.” June said, taking a moment.

“I didn’t convince you to stop using the camera, right?” Juliette said, slightly worried.

“Oh no way, this thing’s awesome, but I’ll take what you said.” June said.

“Ok good.” Juliette said, smiling.

June put the camera away after a moment, and relaxed as the sun touched the water in the horizon, and both took the whole moment in.