So many in our country are shocked at the mention of photography by the blind, they cannot seem to wrap their head around the concept. Why and how would a blind person take a photograph? Like most photographers, persons with blindness too have been drawn to photography out of a curiosity to explore the world through images.
Photography by the blind extends the idea of seeing by reinventing newer ways of arriving at images. The senses of touch, taste, smell and sound guide the process along with devices that help access purely visual information. Thus learning to respond to sensory cues as well as to use available technology enables a blind person to take a photograph.
The process and reason behind making a photograph has as much meaning as the photograph created.
Now even in India it is not uncommon to find persons who are blind take a keen interest in photography. Partho Bhowmick (photographer and teacher), inspired by Hungarian blind photographer Evgen Bavcar started Blind with Camera in 2006.
Blind with Camera is a workshop where visually impaired students and youth can learn about photography and the visual arts. Over the years, hundreds have flocked to Partho wanting to unleash their imagination through photography.
Others who have been motivated by Partho’s movement include Pranav Lal, a Delhi-based cyber security professional who has been visually challenged since birth. Itching to explore something visual Pranav thought of giving photography a go.
He wanted a medium that would allow him to capture something that was beyond the grasp of his senses.
It was then that he came across a technology called The vOICe which enabled him to deepen his engagement with the medium. The vOICe is a vision technology that converts images to sound. It consists of a pair of dark glasses that are wired to a miniature camera along with a bone conduction headphone. The sounds allow Pranav to gauge the position of objects, height of objects, and brightness.
For Pranav, photography is a curious adventure that allows him to relate to the world around him as well as find a balance between work and play.
“I do not care much for the end product. That does not matter. It is the process of creation that is important to me.”
Another one of Partho’s students who has done him proud is Bhavesh Patel. As a child, his passion for the camera remained dormant. Later as a student at St. Xavier’s College he met Partho and was able to finally revisit his love for photography.
The Blind with Camera workshop equipped him with the basics of photography and gave him the confidence to finally capture the world around him.
His method varies from those photographers who are sighted in that he relies heavily on his other senses. He enjoys interacting with his subjects and is able to gauge a lot of what is going on visually through conversations with them. Additionally, the talkback feature on his phone gives him certain details about his surroundings.
His ears provide other subtle pieces of information that help him capture the nuance of a moment.
Bhavesh is the first and only visually impaired photographer to be commissioned for a fashion ad shoot in India.
The very idea of a top brand like Lux commissioning a visually impaired photographer for a country wide ad campaign is a gigantic leap towards inclusion.
It challenges as well as makes aware on a larger scale the fact that a young visually impaired photographer is capable of standing before a Bollywood star and making beautiful photographs of her.
“I shot those images while interpreting the sound of the fabric Katrina wore as well as certain machine-generated sounds that helped me interpret her movements.”
The assumption that the ‘seen’ world belongs only to those that are sighted is challenged by the act of a blind person making a photograph.
The mind’s eye constructs a visual image of the world around and the camera captures it. Blind photography thus allows for image making processes to be arrived at through multiple entry points of the senses.
Institutes for the blind must promote the practice of photography and other visual arts.
While the photographs produced are inaccessible to the clicker, they are accessible to those with sight. And thus, a dialogue ensues between sighted and blind about the photograph as well as the process of making it. Thus, the camera acts as a bridge to the visual world. It allows a blind person to stake claim on this world and master it.
Photography by the blind redefines notions of seeing by challenging the very ideas that define a perfect or beautiful image.
The creation of images by blind persons renders the blind more visible. It allows them to have control over how they are photographed. It allows them to share with those that are sighted what they see and perceive in the world they live in. And rather than being a matter of surprise it must be a matter of excitement for those who are sighted to finally have access to the images that are conjured up in the mind’s eye of those without sight.
Photos from Blind With Camera exhibition below.
All Photographs sourced from Blind With Camera
Witten by Anoushka Mathews
Anoushka Mathews is Research and Communications Officer with Score Foundation in New Delhi. Under its flagship project, ‘Eyeway’, the organisation runs a national toll free helpline for the blind and visually impaired. 1800 300 20469
You can also contact @ScoFoIndia, @friendsofeyeway
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