“Beauty surrounds us but we need to see it ourselves to appreciate it.” I find that very true when talking about beauty in photography. In fact, the very act of taking photographs is an exercise in seeing and appreciating beauty. And I believe the only true way to truly appreciate beauty in all its forms (both visible and invisible) is through visual appreciation. Beauty is most commonly defined as a mental attribute of certain objects which makes these objects enjoyable to see. These objects could be sunsets, landscapes, humans and beautiful works of art.
Beauty, along with aesthetic sense and personal taste, is perhaps the most significant part of aesthetics, probably one of its most important parts. For aesthetic purposes, beauty has been seen to consist primarily in the mental states of people or in particular, facial expressions or gestures, or even the colors and styles of clothing worn by a person. More recent theories on beauty value more value that what is seen through the eyes of an beholder. Beauty is not merely what the eyes see, but the thoughts and feelings that accompany these sights as well.
The belief that beauty lies primarily in the beholder is further justified in the case of aesthetic ailments such as psoriasis. Psoriasis can be seen as an unsightly lesion that protrudes from the skin, often taking the form of dry scaly patches. The emotional state of a person suffering from psoriasis is often hopeless and unhappy, so the emotional definition of beauty often conflicts with the object’s physical definition. Beauty therefore, is subjective, it is based on the individual experience of beauty, rather than on any rigid physiological or objective criteria. Beauty in itself may not even be a mental state; some may find beauty in objects while others look down upon objects simply because they do not like their appearance.