How to see things differently (question on a photo forum)

well for one thing as a scientist you need to keep a distance from your subject. That's why many psychologists study rats. As a social scientist, you have to keep your distance from human beings and see them in way outside the influences of convention--as animals for instance. That's what science and art share. Scientists who are usually pretty well adjusted have to make a conscious effort to achieve distance, Artists are usually aloof or frightened and shy as a matter of character, so they achieve distance naturally. I am both. (you wanted to know).