It’s been 11 years and 1,000 blind students. By the end of each workshop, these students learn how to handle a camera and click photographs just like someone who can see. Partho Bhowmick, teaches them the art of blind photography, right from holding a point-and-shoot camera to touching and feeling the texture, and to use auditory and olfactory cues to understand the frame. This initiative brings them a step closer to the rest of the world, who can witness the beauty of things with their own eyes.
A corporate employee turned photography enthusiast, Partho once read an article in 2004 on Evgen Bavar, an accomplished, blind Parisian photographer. Thrilled, he contacted Bavar. “I was profoundly influenced by his work and philosophy. I engaged myself, studying blindness and visual art, and in the process, came in touch with several blind photographers and blind artists from around the world, and people working towards giving new insight to the visually-impaired and their artistic expression,” says Partho. Two years later, in February 2006, he started Blind With Camera, a project to train the visually-impaired in photography, with just one student.
Getting the blind to click photographs was, of course, challenging. “The first challenge was to get the blind to believe that they can take photographs. Initially, there were a few dropouts,” he says. But, with time, that issue was solved.
While some of them use their existing memories to visualise the objects in front of them, for others it is the soothing scent of a flower, the sound of music, or a touch that prompts them to click. “I ask my students what motivates them to click a particular photograph. Some of them are brilliant and can tell me exactly why they’ve clicked it. Their senses are in sync,” says the proud teacher.
He is very careful about the subjects he gives his students. “I never ask a completely blind person to photograph a sunset or a sunrise. No matter how you explain it, it is the warmth of light for them. There isn’t any creativity involved here,” says Partho.
While he empowers the visually-impaired to see through photography, he conducts blindfolded photography workshops for sighted individuals, where an eye mask obstructs their vision. Some of his students become trainers in these workshops.
A decade since inception, Partho now has an e-school for blind photography. He is happy to see his students coming closer to the world, bidding farewell to their disability with something as small as a camera.
Reach Out: www.blindwithcamera.org