Photography By The Blind
By: Casandra Xavier
June 24, 2018
In today’s world, people are often seen trying to get the best “selfie” of caption photo for show more than anything. Sometimes, people go as far as taking a selfie on the lawn of a complete stranger to pose as the owner of that house just for likes and internet photo fame.
While living with blindness, most of our peers do not expect us to be interested in photography or anything that is very visual while some of us are. We ask about visual or photo descriptions because it provides a sense of inclusivity and involvement with our peers.
I’ve always believed that anyone who teaches anything to someone with any kind of disability should be living with a disability as well. I believe it is a way to provide personal motivation and inspiration to those trying to find more activities or possible career goals. I have always made it possible for my students to ask questions and placate all of the curious ideas and build.
When I instructed my very first photography class with blind students and those with other disabilities, their main question for me was, “what if it’s not perfect?” and the explaining began. My intension for this class and many others like this was to remove the limiting thoughts that photography had to be perfect in order for it to be acceptable by society. A lot of the concerns were wrapped around perfection and the need to please those on the other end of the camera. Well, in these classes, all or most of the young photographers were learning to accept the unacceptable and grow with that. I wanted my new photographers to become brave and burst out of the limitations and explore forbidden perspectives as a blind photographer.
We used a lot of food for props and it seemed to work very well with the younger group and it allowed each student to explore. As an end result, the presentation involving food photography invited an urge to get food during the presentation. There was no special equipment required to take photos, nothing more than adaptive techniques for holding cameras and steadying hands. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to work with students with all levels of blindness which allowed those viewing their work to understand their perspective, see their world through photos.
Before both of these classes were instructed, I introduced the helpful adaptive techniques to all of the students, allowed everyone to exercise the techniques until they felt comfortable. Once the students and instructor felt comfortable, we began our photo shoots around the building and in the neighborhood.
A majority of students were under the impression that they needed to keep the camera up to their eyes as if they were able to see through the display for a “good” photo but they did not. I demonstrated a few very helpful techniques to each student including the observing volunteers.
Adaptive Techniques:
1. Hip Shot:
The hip shot consists of holding the camera down by the hips with the display facing the desired imagery while the photographer holds the camera steady. The photographer may walk as they hold the camera and take pictures in motion. This technique does not require holding camera near the eyes.
2. Chest Shot:
Holding the digital camera by the chest but comfortable enough that you can still press the button for snapping photos simultaneously. You may also hold the camera up above your head as long as you can reach the button and hold the camera steady.
3. Bird’s Eye View:
Holding the camera slightly above an object of any kind with the camera display pointing directly above the surface. You would need two hands for this particular technique unless the camera that is being used is small enough to use single handedly.
I encourage anyone that is living with blindness to explore beyond these three techniques if you’re ever curious about the outcomes. The suggestions above are just a way to get started and allow photographers to get comfortable with extremely visual projects.
The back story:
I was born with congenital blindness and deafness but never truly felt “blind” or “deaf” while growing up. I studied visual arts in college and was probably one of the only students with low vision doing such a visual task on a daily basis. My art work was not like my peers and would never be like the lead student in the department at the time. These women were in all dimensions that required normal and full eye sight in order to comprehend. Fortunately, I was not sighted and would never see their views of art. In fact, they were able to understand what my world looked like on a daily basis and took an interest in my perspectives. I understood that black room photography was considered too dangerous for me because of my blindness so, I took to digital photography which worked fine for me. I got acquainted with Adobe Photoshop CS 5 and a digital camera while others disappeared into a dark room with film production.
Despite my blindness and deafness, I grew up with an appreciation for the arts of all or most mediums. I did not hold back any questions when it came to any techniques to explore when it came to visual arts
The recent update:
A few months ago within the year of 2018, I visited a local training center for the blind in Newton, MA to give a seminar on blind photography and that went very well. Most of the students who sat in on the seminar demonstrated a great interest in doing photography, everyone had questions and I answered. By the end of the seminar, students and staff wanted to remain in contact with me and instantly went out to take photos! It is great to know that I can alleviate the fear of taking photos within the blind community.
Somehow, I ended up on a broadcast show that lead to me having another opportunity to teach photography with “Our Space Our Place” in Roxbury for a few weeks and it was fun. On the radio show, I earned that there had been many blind individuals who were interested as well. I provided information to which they can participate as well as explained the techniques. So many listeners believed there had to be more technology involved but that was not true. With clear and precise explanation, everything went well.
I hope those of you who read this will go out and take photos with whatever permits you to capture photos!
PHOTO DESCRIPTION:
Casandra stands with her blue dreadlock Mohawk and her long white cane Larry in front of a film festivals’ purple and blue poster that reads, “Wicked Queer” in different colors with a bright poppy yellow wall in the far background. She wears black circle sunglasses.
