A RECENT ENTRY ON TOP HAD A LINK to An experiment in looking at photographs.
Essentially, the "experiment" is simple enough. There are 5 pictures and the viewer is asked to stare, for 2 minutes, at each picture. The hoped for effect of the effort is for the viewer to overcome his/her dreaded (and, iMo, over-hyped) the internet-is-killing-everybody's-attention-span disorder. And, once freed from that disorder, his/her brain can draw "not just on analysis and reason, but on imagination, emotion and memory. That is, from right brain function rather than left brain function. The result? A deeper understanding and appreciation of what a picture is about.
I engaged in the experiment. I can write without a single doubt-and more importantly, without any hesitation-that the author's hoped for result did not work for me. As a matter of fact, at first and very short glance, I knew which pictures-3 of the 5-would not hold my attention and which two-Catching Flies / It Felt Like Home-would. I did not need 2 minutes to figure that out and, FYI, it is not because the internet has killed my attention span.
How did I know? The answer is both simple and complex. The simple answer is that I know myself-arriving at that knowing was not so simple-and one of the most important things I know about myself is that the so-called right brain function is the dominate manner in which "see" (literally and figuratively) the world. Over time and with much picture making, I came to realize that, visually, my RB-function was accutely sensitive to perceiving form-line, shape, color, value, et al-and that sensitivity is the core value in my picture making vision.
Consequently, it should come as no surprise, that I know I am drawn to pictures made by others which mimic my picture making vision. That does not mean that I am close-minded about viewing and appreciating pictures that do not conform / mimic my vision. What it does mean is that I can recognize, nearly instantly, a picture that will hold my attention and interest. That is, hold my interest, not for 2 minutes, but for the long haul - as in, hanging on my wall and to which I can return again and again for that special tingle, aka: prick, a picture can incite, re: to my eye and sensibilities. And, as an added bonus, an evolving appreciation of that picture for newly discerned / discovered pricks it is capable of inciting.
All of that written, my point is this...I don' think that I am in any way "special" in this regard. I believe that any picture maker who has, at the very least, a freshman grip on his/her personal vision has the ability to very quickly discern which pictures prick his/her eye and sensibilities. It ain't rocket science. Rather, it is "simply" a matter of knowing one's self.