[stylist] Blindness and photography

[Priscilla McKinley]

I have been reading this discussion with interest.  I know blind
photographers and artists, but their work is based on usable vision.
I was totally sighted for half of my life and I have been totally
blind for the second half of my life, and while I will take pictures
for family and friends, I would hire someone to take pictures if I
needed them for a professional writing assignment.  After all, I'm a
writer, not a photographer.  I would want the photographs to be the
best for a sighted audience, as most of my audience would be sighted.
Sighted people don't want pictures that are fair.  They want
brilliance.  And I'm not saying that blind people can't take brilliant
photographs, but if a person has no sight, it would be next to
impossible to know the lighting and so on.

This leads to the whole idea of a contest for blind photographers.
Isn't it more likely that someone with usable vision would do a better
job than someone without?  After all, lighting is everything for
photography.  I have to wonder if Dr. Jernigan would like such a
contest.  If you haven't read it, perhaps you should listen to the
dishwashing tape where he explains that we are all equal as blind
people.  Would a photography contest illustrate this?  Or would it
cause a divide?  If there was such a contest, wouldn't it make more
sense to put everyone under sleep shades, as Dr. Jernigan insisted
should be done in the traning centers so that we would be equal as
blind individuals?

Just my thoughts,

Priscilla



On 8/9/10, Judith Bron <jbron at optonline.net> wrote:
> Of course they do.  The difference is they think their dependence on others
> is "normal".  If blind people want to snap a picture the action, in their
> opinion, is abnormal.  It's all in the perception of the action.  Judith
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "loristay" <loristay at aol.com>
> To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, August 09, 2010 1:03 PM
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Blindness and photography
>
>
> What makes you think sighted people don't often ask for assistance from
> others, whether sighted or blind? No one is completely independent. That's
> the way of the world.
> Lori
> On Aug 8, 2010, at 11:38:31 PM, "Joe Orozco" <jsorozco at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From:   "Joe Orozco" <jsorozco at gmail.com>
> Subject:    Re: [stylist] Blindness and photography
> Date:   August 8, 2010 11:38:31 PM EDT
> To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Dear all,
>
> I haven't followed this thread. Forgive me if this has already been raised,
> but how exactly do blind people know how to gauge the quality of their
> product? This can't possibly be something one can independently measure
> without sighted assistance, and at that point, doesn't it become
> counterproductive? If pictures are taken for posterity, wouldn't a person
> want that to be preserved at its best? I'm not bashing it, because I
> genuinely don't know how blind people would do it. I'm open to
> enlightenment, though I'm scanning through my e-mail and see that the topic
> has been bounced about quite a bit already.
>
> Joe
>
> "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
> some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Writers Division web site:
> http://www.nfb-writers-division.org <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>
> stylist mailing list
> stylist at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> stylist:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/loristay%40aol.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> Writers Division web site:
> http://www.nfb-writers-division.org <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>
> stylist mailing list
> stylist at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> stylist:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/jbron%40optonline.net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Writers Division web site:
> http://www.nfb-writers-division.org <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>
> stylist mailing list
> stylist at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> stylist:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/priscilla.mckinley%40gmail.com
>