Someone once said something along the lines of “You should look at 10,000 images before you pick up a camera”. As I posted recently, it’s so important to be able to “see the light”, and viewing the work of others, whether you like their style or not, is a great way to learn.
But what would you do if you could not “see”, I mean literally, could not see? If you lost your eyesight, life would change dramatically, and most of us wouldn’t think about photography very much, right?
Well, thanks to blogger and photographer Lawton Howell, I learned of a fellow by the name of Pete Eckert, who lost his eyesight years ago, and THEN decided to take up photography!
- Electro Man © Pete Eckert
I read his story here and was impressed with his determination and desire to create in the photographic medium. I can’t begin to keep track of all the questions I have about what it must be like for Pete, how he works, how he “sees”. Pete offers this:
“I view my work during the event of taking the shot in my minds eye. I “see“ each shot very clearly, only I use sound, touch, and memory. I am more of a conceptual artist than a photographer. My influences come from my past memory of art and what I now find in the world at large.”
If you look at his photos, they are decidedly different, abstract, edgy. But this post is not about the photographs – it’s about the photographer.
I will think of Pete when I am in a “photo funk”, you know, when you are unable or unwilling to find the next image because you aren’t motivated, aren’t creative, aren’t engaged in the moment.
For that matter, I’ll think of Pete when I’m in any kind of a funk.
“Occasionally people refuse to believe I am blind. I am a visual person. I just can’t see.”
– Posted by Ed
2 Guys Photo 