Blind photography; yes, its a thing!
I take photographs not despite being legally blind but because I am legally blind. My eyes do not have lenses but my camera does. It is my way of seeing detail in an otherwise blurry world.
Due to a myriad of eye conditions I have less than 3% vision in just one eye. The world is a blur where detail has been deconstructed. Much of what goes on around me visually stays hidden, along with its meaning. This can be extremely frustrating, limiting and isolating.
By using a digital camera and a computer though, I am afforded a window into the world. Photography is how I make sense of the world.
Being a keen gardener I needed to find a way to read the small print on seed packets. Glasses were no longer cutting it. Thankfully my mum had a DSLR camera which I used to take photos of the text and then view it on my computer. This allowed me to zoom on the text and slowly take in the information.
Photographs were also the best way I could visually appreciate my garden. Not only could I enlarge details on the computer screen but I had a static, stable image which was contained on a flat screen. Not having lenses in my eyes means focusing is a major challenge. Objects at different distances crash into each other in a blurry, jumbled mess. Photographs on a screen mean that my eyes only have to try and focus on a single focal length, allowing my eye to appreciate the image rather than struggle to make sense of it.
Whilst picking strawberries with my niece I snapped a photograph of her enjoying the fruits of our labour. This was a game changer for me; it allowed me to properly see my niece for the first time and let me see just how much she enjoyed her garden time. I will struggle to take a more meaningful photograph than this one regardless of how many images I snap in the future.
In 2016 my brother provided me with the opportunity to travel the world; something I had wanted to do for as long as I remember. During the six years before this I had undergone 15 surgeries. I was keen to get out of the waiting rooms and into the world.
I wanted to see everything I could and I knew a camera would be the key to unlock the world. I didn’t purchase a backpack until the day before departure; I did however obtain my own digital camera long before this.
I knew that it would be the best tool not only to try and see the things that would cross my blurry path but that it would make me see. When visually impaired it can be all too easy to go to the back of the crowd, I mean if you can’t see anyway what’s the point of going to all the effort to try? With a camera in hand the point becomes trying to capture an image, a moment, a story. Suddenly there was a point and a reason to make the effort.
Whilst I still miss the majority of the action that is unfolding in front of me, wanting to take photographs makes me look closer.
I do enjoy a beautiful landscape picture but more and more I want people in my frame. Life is an amazing thing and we all have stories. It is this life and these stories I want to try and capture and share.
I prefer candid photos of people but I also want my pictures to be respectful; both the end product and the process. Sticking a camera in someone’s face isn’t the most respectable thing nor is taking sneaky shots. This is particularly problematic when being visually impaired as I cannot read people’s body or facial language. Once the photograph is taken though I can then see the details; expressions and emotions on people’s faces.
Being legally blind obviously creates many challenges when photographing. The biggest challenge is of course seeing what is going on in the first place.
A flash of colour will get my shutter firing while a computer screen later turns these flashes into a person, an action, a moment in time. Places like India and Myanmar are overflowing in colour so travelling and photographing in such places are an absolute joy. Colour brings the world to life.
I also use sound to find a picture. The ringing of bells on a convoy of mules, music from a street performer, a gasp or a cheer from a crowd during a sporting event or a friendly voice. These are often my signals that something is happening, it is then that I try to see and capture those somethings.
Just looking through the view finder can be a challenge. Not only do I only see out of one eye but I can only see out of certain parts of that eye meaning I can only see a fraction of the frame. Thankfully digital cameras allow me to take numerous photographs to find that one picture. Digital technology also means I can crop images in post if there is something in the frame which I didn’t see at the time of exposure and don’t want. Cropping also allows me to zoom right in on a particular feature letting me see even more detail than I otherwise would.
These challenges can be frustrating at times but it is challenges that make life interesting and ensure we continue to learn. I know that as long as I continue to take photographs I will continue to learn and refine my skills. This means that photography will always be exciting and there will always be more photographs to take.
My eye conditions are degenerative so the day will come when I cannot see at all. Until then and maybe still after then, I will continue to point my lens wherever a flash of colour, a sound or a story directs it and hopefully the images that catch my eye might just catch yours as well so that we can share a story.
Some random views of the world
