This doesn't answer your question, but photons definitely can interact with (bounce off) electrons. All optical properties we see macroscopically (light intera

This doesn't answer your question, but photons definitely can interact with (bounce off) electrons. All optical properties we see macroscopically (light interacting with objects) can be broken down to photons interacting with electrons. The Quantum Electro-Dynamics theory (QED) explains this. There are actually some really great and entertaining free video lectures about this, given by Richard Feynman: http://vega.org.uk/video/programme/45 http://vega.org.uk/video/programme/45 Now, I think what you were referring to is that we can't see electrons in an optical microscope because the electrons are smaller than the diffraction limit imposed by visible lights wavelengths. So, in my admittedly limited understanding, you can't see an electron with a light microscope, but almost everything we consider optics is determined by electron-photon interactions.