JPG: Stories: Feature Story: The Blind Photographer

Feature Story

The Blind Photographer

By Nicole Slaughter

30 Apr 2007

I absolutely love photography and proud I can call myself a photographer. I got into photography after the birth of my second daughter in December 2004. With the birth of our first daughter I was afraid to even touch the camera. I thought I might break it or something silly like that. So my husband did almost all of the photograph taking. As he was working part time, it worked out well. But when our second daughter arrived and he was working full time, someone had to capture the special moments. So I forced myself to pick up the camera on Christmas eve and have not put it down since.

Right about now, you might be wondering why I titled this "The Blind Photographer"

I was born with a condition called Albinism. This condition is recessive, inherited and affects my hair, skin and eyes.

Albinism affects about 1 in every 17,000 individuals in the US. This number varies around the world. The two main types of albinism are Ocular Albinism which effects mainly the eyes, and Oculocutaneous Albinism which affects hair, skin and eyes. There are varying degrees, types and severities of albinism. Way too many to try and list here.

While in the womb, our eyes need pigment to develop correctly. In a person with albinism, the pathways do not develop correctly due to the lack of, or little pigmentation, resulting in loss of vision capability.

Visual acuity ranges from as good as 20/60 to as bad as 20/400 (or blind). I myself am considered 20/200 on the eye chart. This means I see at 20 feet away what a "normal" sighted person can see at 200 feet away. Quite a difference!

Some common eye problems caused by albinism include:

1) Nystagmus, irregular rapid eye movement back and forth, or in a circular motion.

2) Strabismus, which is eye misalignment or otherwise know as crossed eye - lazy eye.

3) Photophobia, sensitivity to bright light and glare.

4) Astigmatism, refractive error

5) Optic nerve hypoplasia, underdevelopment of the optic nerve

6) Nearsightedness, inability to see thinks in the distance. (read street signs etc)

7) Farsightedness, can't see things up close (when reading a book need to hold it far away from them)

Persons with albinism generally can not really correct their vision much (if at all) very easily. Persons with albinism have to find an eye doctor willing to work closely with them in order to have any hopes of helping their vision. Even then there are no guarantees. This could be another story by itself.

Now enough of the biology lesson, as there is so much more I could add, but it is irrelevant to the story at hand. So if you wish to know more about albinism please visit http://www.albinism.org/ or http://www.positiveexposure.org/

Now that is out of the way and you know that I am visually impaired. I was inspired to write this because of JPEG Magazines most recent blog post about "Seeing Beyond Sight". I thought to myself 'what a cool project'.

I have encountered all kinds of responses to my albinism and visual acuity (sight). But the ones I have received about me being photographer are perhaps the most amusing. People seem to think that just because I am considered "legally blind" that I can't see. I have been asked questions like "How are you able take good photographs?", "You can really see through that?" and "You took this?" People seem to have this misconception that if you are legally blind that you are totally blind and that it is all or nothing. This simply is not true.

I was doing a wedding for a family member of my husbands last summer and got the comment, "Your visually impaired right? So you can actually take good pictures? You can see through the camera?" And all I could think was, "they would not have asked me to do it otherwise". I told her my portfolio speaks for itself. But still, that she would even think to say something like that to me is amusing.

What I see? I see beauty and color in life. I can see everything you see, just maybe a little differently. Or maybe a lot differently, but I think even normal sighted persons all see things differently. I often get asked if things are blurry, and for me the answer is no. My vision can not be compared to someone with normal vision. I am a very visual person despite my disability.

About a few weeks ago my husband and I went to a local conservatory and had fun shooting flowers. There was a flower there called Anthurium. I had no idea the detail that was on the flower. I pulled it onto the computer, zoomed in and wow was I amazed. I would have never seen the intricate detail on the piece of the flower sticking up, had it not been for my camera and magnification on my computer.

That same day we took our girls to the park and I had the opportunity to shoot a squirrel that was on the tree close to the swings when our girls were playing. While I could not see the expression on his face I could see where he was, and I could tell if he was looking towards me. I think my husband thought I was crazy while looking through the photographs on my computer. Because I was so amazed by the squirrel hanging off the side of the tree. I never realized how long their little fingers or claws were until then. It's the fine detail that my vision misses every day.

It's amazing the detail that can be seen in a child's eyes. I never knew the amazing detail and shading in my daughter's eyes until I learned to use my camera. Kids move so fast that my eyes capturing that detail as I want to see it is not easily possible. Thats where my camera comes in.

Water drops can have cool reflections in them. I can see the water drops and they are in focus to me. But as far as detail goes, like seeing great detail of the reflection in the water drop, I can't see that very well. Thanks to my camera, I get to see those awesome reflections, colors and details.

I am very thankful for the digital age. If it were not for the digital camera I would not be able to do this. I'm free to take several shots of each image, without worrying about the cost of developing film. I couldn't afford it otherwise. I know some think the first shot should always be perfect. I do try to do so but lets be real, thats impossible in reality, or that is my opinion anyways. Visually impaired or perfect vision, there is too much that comes into play.

There's so much beauty in the world and I don't want to miss it all. Capturing my daughters lives is amazing and fun. I love every moment of it and am glad that I am able to document them.

Photographing other peoples lives is my honor and my pleasure. Capturing someone's wedding, pregnancy, family and so on is something I truly enjoy. I have found what I want to do in life besides being a wife and mother. I'm glad to have the vision that I have, I think it allows me to do what I do. Perhaps gives me a different perspective on things. Albinism does not define me nor does it decide who I am. But it does help make me who I am through my experiences. It challenges me as a person and a photographer.

My camera goes everywhere I do. I think my work speaks for itself. I can take good photographs and love every moment of it. I think that all of the TLC I put into my work shows, and sets me apart from some of the other photographers. I will never stop learning and have so much to learn. But being "legally blind" "visually impaired" will not stop me from accomplishing my dream of someday being a professional photographer.

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