Coffee Scoop
The scoop we use for our morning coffee is coffee colored. This makes it hard for me to see how much coffee is in the scoop. Instinctively, I tilt the scoop so that the nearest light falls across it rather than directly on it. The cross light brings out the texture of the grounds, which stands out in contrast to the smooth shine of the scoop.
I am too lazy to bend down and peer into the dogs’ water bowl to see how much water remains. The clear water is too hard to make out. Instead, I give the bowl a nudge with my foot. This is not to see if any spills out, though that happens a bit too often. Instead; the nudge causes ripples. With the right angle, I can see these ripples and can tell, more or less, if the dogs need water.
What does this have to do about photography? We all use visual tricks to help us see. What’s so special about these particular tricks? There is nothing unique about these specific tricks. But being visually impaired, I rely more heavily on these types of visual shortcuts. This heavy reliance provides extra, if instinctual, training in the properties of light
Light is the key to photography. An ability to sculpt with light is the most powerful tool in the photographer’s kit. Composition, color, content are all lost without the right light. So good coping skills for low vision are also hard knock lessons in Photography 101.
Am I crazy? Probably.
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You are so right on when you say,
“Light is the key to photography. An ability to sculpt with light is the most powerful tool in the photographer’s kit.”
I am surprised by how many photographers have yet to realize this.
Brent. Thanks!
I came here via the NY Times blog Lens. I live with and have the privileged of photographing with, an extraordinary man who is not quite legally blind (although color blind) at the moment but he will very likely be at some point in the next 10 years.
At times I help him with some of the finer points in his editing that he just can’t discern but for the most part he does it himself. But it his ability to capture human emotion in faces and bodies out on the street and on the stage that is so special. He feels it is because he only really sees shapes and not details, he is drawn to the light that is reflected.
http://www.markkitaoka.com/