photo: Timothy O’Brien

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Blind people who take pictures, may sound absurd or strange...

Your ideas about what is normal or abnormal... we create prejudices

without realising. We are so used to seeing the world only with our eyes

that we believe without them we could not see... Timothy O’ Brien, blind

photographer, explains why photography isn’t exclusive to who can see:

“Vision, unlike beauty, is not in the eye of the beholder, as the expression

goes, but lies instead in the mind and heart. Our experiences and feelings

contextualise our sensory data. Our mind builds vision by folding sensory

information; what we see, hear, taste, feel and even smell, into the patterns

that we have already envisioned, creating a feedback loop that is sight.

We see what we imagine we see. Without a full flow of data from the eye,

imagination is the key to vision, letting the mind stitch together an image.

So vision is more than sight, just as imagination is more than information.

Sight may contribute to vision, as knowledge fuels imagination, but a creative

mind needs neither to experience vision or imagination.” He shows how the

blind see with touch and develop other senses that can perceive the world

with the same efficiency as those who employ the visual sense.

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Vision in mind and heartAlex de Jong / Profile

Alex de Jong considers himself a very visual person; the only difference between him and you is that he can’t see. He is a professional photographer who was diagnosed with cancer and then as a result of a tumor lost his eyesight.

Being blind has made Alex discover one critical factor; the brain produces images, not the eyes.

Harvesting ShotsTimothy O’ Brien / Interview

I first took photography seriously about ten years ago with the arrival of decent digital cameras. Small prints and tiny negatives tempered any serious interest in image making.

As the technology allowed full-screen photo editing, I was lucky enough to share an office with a serious shutterbug.

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As a blind photographer he feels his talent is under constant scrutiny; “Taking a picture is so easy, you just need a camera, decide at which moment to shoot, press the button and then you have your picture. Why can’t the blind do this?”

04.

photo: Alex de Jong

Vision in mind and heartAlex de Jong / Profile

photos: Alex de Jong

05.

Alex appears a very conventional photographer; he carries his cameras with him at all times, but more recently he has found himself evolving and using his iPhone camera. This is not only for convenience but to complete the process independently, something of which is extremely important to him.

For him his work isn’t just aesthetically produced but more importantly for provoking emotion. “A lot of people believe that photography is a window, when you look at a picture you can see something from someone’s point of view; how that person see the world, and how that person feels.

For me, my photos are more than that. They are mirrors, when people see my pictures they can reflect from them.” For Alex the responses from his audience are sometime more important to him than the picture itself.

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He introduced me to digital photography and the basics of image creation as well as the inspirational work of Cartier-Bresson and Sebastião Salgado. My colleague lent me my first serious camera and I haven’t been without one since.

photos: Timothy O’Brien

Harvesting ShotsTimothy O’ Brien / Interview

how do you

make your photos? Could you describe one

working day? As I do have some functional

vision, I prepare each image or series by

stitching together a picture of the subject

in my mind. Immersing myself in the shoot

allows me to build a map of the image that

I hope the camera will capture.

which camera do you

work with? I use a Nikon D40X with a few basic lenses

and a small off-camera flash setup. I use LightRoom to edit

images. I am looking into rethering as the on-camera LCD

and viewfinder are too small to be sufficiently useful. I have

high hopes that the iPad or similar will evolve into a wireless

camera control with full control of settings and both image

review and preview.

photos: Timothy O’Brien

how do you

make your photos? Could you describe one

working day? As I do have some functional

vision, I prepare each image or series by

stitching together a picture of the subject

in my mind. Immersing myself in the shoot

allows me to build a map of the image that

I hope the camera will capture.

which camera do you

work with? I use a Nikon D40X with a few basic lenses

and a small off-camera flash setup. I use LightRoom to edit

images. I am looking into rethering as the on-camera LCD

and viewfinder are too small to be sufficiently useful. I have

high hopes that the iPad or similar will evolve into a wireless

camera control with full control of settings and both image

review and preview.

08.

photos: Timothy O’Brien

From the click of the shutter, I need to wait for the digital darkroom before reviewing usage. With such small LCDs I have little of the immediate feedback, something so integral to many modern photographers.

The computer has very much become my darkroom. It is only on screen that the camera’s memory card gives up its hoard and I can begin harvesting the successful shots.

09.

photo: Timothy O’Brien

What is the most important element in a photo? Feelings? Techniques? Feeling is key to a usage, but that feeling will be revealed clearly only with good technique. Technique makes the camera invisible and connects the viewer to the subject directly. Without technique, the image is layered with distractions and distortions that distance and separate the viewer from the subject of the image. By technique, I mean more intention than formula. A photographer must have an intention when making an image and that intention can only be expressed through the syntax of technique.

10.

Brian Negus

http://www.flickr.com/people/Briannegus/

Bruce Hall

http://bphall.wordpress.com/

Pete Eckert

http://www.peteeckert.com/photos.htm

Kurt Weston

http://www.kurtweston.com/

Timothy O’Brien

http://www.timobrienphotos.com/

http://blindphotographers.org

Alex de Jong

http://flickr.com/photos/lodrorigdzin

http://seeingistouchingphototalk.wordpress.com/

photo: Alex de Jong

where and who

Pete Eckert

http://www.peteeckert.com/photos.htm

Kurt Weston

http://www.kurtweston.com/

11.

In Artmiks’ opinion advertisement is driven by sight and is –in that sense– short sighted. Artmiks wants to open the doors and look beyond the traditional. Technique is changing the world. At Artmiks we want to understand this change and research the new possibilities, opportunities and products this brings. This ‘Digizine’ called by it’s number and title is therefore the first of an irregular series on whatever broadens our sights.

is free and independent: Don’t act Blind; Follow your Vision.

Why Blind Photography by Artmiks

Artmiks [image builders]

St. pieterspoortsteeg 23a1012 hm amsterdam+31 (0)20 42 33 555+31 (0)20 42 33 666

info@artmiks.nlwww.artmiks.nl

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Spring 2010