Visual sensitivity?

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I am quite sensitive to bright lights, and glare, even in overcast weather, and I've always seen beauty in the ordinary; in things that most people don't look at, or consider aesthetically pleasing, and I'm wondering if they are connected. As a child and even now the texture of bark on tree trunks, or the silver and green effect of foliage moving in the wind, a nice painting etc. are all soothing to look at.
It's natural colours and movements, contrast, patterns, texture, shapes, lines and man made objects too.
Does anyone else experience this?

Yes, I do.

Me too - took art in high school as a result. Really enjoyed drawing landscapes.

Very much so. Snow falling, fire in a fireplace, waves on the ocean, flowing rivers, the movement of a fan blade, etc. . These things have always captured my attention. When I was younger I could just sit there and get lost watching them.

I never thought about why I wanted to touch random things, like the waxy or matte texture of a leaf would catch my attention and I had to touch it to see to see how it felt, I haven't outgrown that habit, but other adults don't seem to do this. I chalked it up to 'their loss', when I would get weird looks for touching tree trunks, lol.
When I moved into urban living I missed having access to bodies of water, and now I have that back in my life for me the movement of water and wind blowing through trees are so soothing visually and aurally.

Yes but then the downside to this is that i cant even make it through the day without eventually covering my eyes and rocking myself in a ball for a while. :/ ya win some, ya lose some

I have a rare low vision disorder that includes some colorblindness & sensitivity to lighting conditions.

That sounds just like me, overcast weather and brightness makes my whole eyes ache, it's something I even have nightmares about! and I'm generally extremely sensitive to the visuals around me. Aesthetics are extremely important to me, certain types of industrial landscapes or buildings make me feel frightened and depressed, whereas the imagery I like most fills me with joy, I just surround myself with things I find beautiful otherwise I feel lifeless and depressed.

I hated going to mental health appointments because the interiors and rooms were so shoddy and dreary, and the view out the window was a very grey and industrial part of the town, so I always felt worse for being there! I was surprised they didn't have the sense to make the place nicer or more comfortable considering mentally I'll people regularly sit there for hours.

The "Allegory of a Cave": one of my favorite works of all time.

It will teach me patience when I become a therapist. I am not patient by nature.

I wish I had your creative affinity for textures, Amity. I believe I have an aesthetic sense of things--but my vision isn't that great. Its about 20/30-40 or so even with glasses; in the 20/300's-400's without them.

Thanks, I hadn't read about Incomplete Achromatopsia before, it must impact significantly on your daily living.