Legally Blind Photographer Shows Work In 2013

[Drew Bedo]

I have been selected to participate in the Abilities Expo artiasts market this August.


I am sponsored for 10x10 booth and will have a number pf framed prints on display and for sale. Its a sort of trade show for persons with an interest in disabilities.
Its open to the public and admission is free (parking will cost you).


If you are in Houston Aug 2-4, drop by and see me.


Below is a press release.

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Legally Blind Photographer Shows Work In Houston

Legally blind visual artist, Drew Bedo, has been selected to show his fine-art photographic prints at the Abilities Expo 2013 at Houston’s Reliant Center from August 2nd through the 4th.
Although legally blind,Bedo creates fine art photographic images using traditional films in antique view cameras. His work will be on display and for sale to the public at the Abilities Expo trade show.
In 2011,, Bedo was selected as an Artist-in-Residence at Rocky Mountain National Park. His work has also been exhibited in juried main-stream shows by The Houston Center for Photography and the Houston Visual Arts Alliance. In 2013, several of his images have been selected for inclusion in the Shared Visions Exhibition at the California college of Optometry, a juried, multi-media art show for visually impaired artists. Four of his images are on perminant display at the Cris Cole Rehabilitation Center, a state institution in Austin.
His work may be found at: www.quietlightphoto.com
Additional images by Bedo may be found at: www.artsyhome.com

From The Abilities Expo website:
“Abilities Expo brings together everything you need, all under one roof! For more than 30 years, Abilities Expo has been the go-to source for the Community of people with disabilities, their families, seniors, veterans and healthcare professionals. Every event opens your eyes to new technologies, new possibilities, new solutions and new opportunities to change your life. Where else can you discover ability-enhancing products and services, play a few adaptive sports, learn new dance moves, attend informative workshops and only scratch the surface of what Abilities Expo has to offer?”
http://www.abilitiesexpo.com/houston/index.html

[David Schaller]

Congratulations Drew! Have a great time at the Expo.
Dave

[Drew Bedo]

Thanks Dave: Drop by, say "Hi!", then look around.

See you tomorrow at the TPCA meeting . . .
Hey, everyone . . .the Texas Photographic Collectors Association meets on the 2nd Sat of each month at 10AM down at Professional Camera Repair (4410 Richmond in Houston). Come ooofor the coffee, carbohydrates and camera talk.

[C_Remington]

What does Legally Blind mean?

[Bob Salomon]

What does Legally Blind mean?

Please use a larger font size.

[Bob Salomon]

Congratulations Drew!

Back in the early 70's when I was a Product Manager with Rollei a magazine did an article about a photographer who was supposed to actually be blind (I am legally blind also) who did a photo shoot with a Rollei 35 camera. Pictures were very good, composition was excellent but the story did not go into how he accomplished it.

[C_Remington]

Please use a larger font size.

What does Legally Blind mean?

[Bob Salomon]

What does Legally Blind mean?

I can see that without my glasses now!

[Andrew O'Neill]

Google it. That's what it's there for. Wikipedia:


In North America and most of Europe, legal blindness is defined as visual acuity (vision) of 20/200 (6/60) or less in the better eye with best correction possible. This means that a legally blind individual would have to stand 20 feet (6.1 m) from an object to see it—with corrective lenses—with the same degree of clarity as a normally sighted person could from 200 feet (61 m). In many areas, people with average acuity who nonetheless have a visual field of less than 20 degrees (the norm being 180 degrees) are also classified as being legally blind. Approximately ten percent of those deemed legally blind, by any measure, have no vision. The rest have some vision, from light perception alone to relatively good acuity. Low vision is sometimes used to describe visual acuities from 20/70 to 20/200.[3]

Good luck, Drew!

[C_Remington]

Too lazy.

[Drew Bedo]

`Everyone: Thanks for the words of encouragement!

Andrew: Thanks for the quote. In my case, my right eye is totally blind and my left eye has a central blind spot with 20/200 vision surrounding that.

There is more about me on my website.





while the idea of a "blind photographer"may be counter intuitive, I am not unique. Blind Photographers Group, on Flicker is for, by and about photographers with visual impairment at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/blind_photographers Some good imagery there and some deep sharing if you dig through the discussion threads.

[Wayne]

Congratulations and best of luck with your show. I recently lost a good friend who was also a legally blind photographer, and a damn good one. As his vision got worse his normal vision became restricted much like looking through a camera viewfinder, and before he lost most of his sight he took amazing photographs.

[Drew Bedo]

Wayne: That sounds like Retenitus Pigmentosa, a degenerative condition where the retina degrades from the outside into the center. Folks with RP don't notice anything at first, but begin to bump into things.

The opposite happens with Macular Degeneration. In "Mac-D" the center of the retina (the Macula) degrades first and there is only peripheral vision.

[Drew Bedo]

“]Back in the early 70's when I was a Product Manager with Rollei a magazine did an article about a photographer who was supposed to actually be blind (I am legally blind also) who did a photo shoot with a Rollei 35 camera. Pictures were very good, composition was excellent but the story did not go into how he accomplished it. “


Photography for the profoundly blind is very different. Folks who cannot see at all perceive their surroundings through touch, smell and sound. Concepts of space and time are different.

I imagine that with a solid TLR (Rolli) hanging from his neck, the photographer could turn to face what he perceived and make exposures using hyper focal principals and the Sunny-16 rule. There was a man in England that shot church interiors with a view camera who set up the camera using pre-measured sticks to adjust the standards for hyper-focal distance with a pre-set aperture. He adjusted exposure by changing the time the lens cap was off.

In my case, the number of technically good exposures is about 60% (or lower) and the number of images that I am willing to show anyone is much less thn that . . .those are the ones that I post.

[Wayne]

Wayne: That sounds like Retenitus Pigmentosa, a degenerative condition where the retina degrades from the outside into the center. Folks with RP don't notice anything at first, but begin to bump into things.

The opposite happens with Macular Degeneration. In "Mac-D" the center of the retina (the Macula) degrades first and there is only peripheral vision.


I'm not sure because he had multiple issues. Even before I met him when we were about 13, he had had surgeries for tumors that were impinging on his optic nerves. So his eyesight was already impaired then, and he never learned to drive but he could certainly see. A few years later he was diagnosed with lupus and he fought epilipsy and all the side effects of all the meds and implants he took for these conditions all his life while his eyesight continued to degenerate. It was way more than one person should have to bear.