If all went well, and I assume it did, my first photo show got hung this weekend. I am doing a two-woman show with a lifelong friend who does watercolor and ink drawings.
I am not a photographer. Even the word ‘amateur’ elevates me to a status I don’t deserve. I like to travel and I like to take pictures. I probably have thousands of shots.
Several years ago I decided to enter a local competition. The judges did me the ultimate injustice: they gave me a blue ribbon! Since I have never, ever been one to turn my back on success (and recognition!), I have been entering that competition pretty much ever since. I am hooked.
The problem became a dozen framed photos taking up house space. When I heard of this show, I decided to volunteer – both me and my friend! After all, what are friends for? It would at least get my competition photos out of the house and I could clean that corner.
So here I am, the going blind photographer in her first, two-woman show. Will it be my last show? Not sure, but I plan to keep taking photos.
Visual impairment does not mean giving up all of your hobbies, even the ones you traditionally think of as needing good vision. Like photography. In fact, for some people with low vision, photography is a profession and they keep going!
Don’t believe me? Ask Craig Royal. He has been visually impaired since birth and he is a fine art photographer. A little abstract? Yep, but several of the pieces I saw were hauntingly beautiful.
How about Peter Eckert? He is blind from retinitis pigmentosa. Tammy Ruggles has RP also. Both of them are not hobby photographers; they are professionals!
As you might have noticed, some of the work these people do is a little ‘different’. We are not talking about grandma and her brownie here. But different is the point.
I am now different (yeah, yeah, so what else is new?). The ways I do things have to be different too.
So far no vacation this year. If we actually get one depends upon my husband’s back. No vacation means no, new vacation photos. I have to find another venue for taking photos.
No driving means I pretty much have to take photos at home. Turning what I see everyday into a beautiful photo is going to take some creativity.
I have decided to explore still life photography. I have also decided to experiment with magnification. Seem to have a lot of magnifying tools in the house these days.? These things are different for me but they allow me to keep going and take photos. Might be interesting.
For ideas on how to take excellent photos in spite of visual impairment see iPhonephotography: photography for all by Luis Perez and published by the National Federation for the Blind.
For more blind and low vision photographers’ work, see photo essays by blind photographer in Time.