Hello, and thank you for looking into Blind Guy Photography. My name is John,, and YES I am blind. In 2018 I was diagnosed with a rare brain condition called hydrocephalous. Less than 1% of adults will be diagnosed with hydrocephalous this year, and even fewer will lose their vision because of it. I’m just lucky I guess… How did this make me lose my vision? How can I take photos? Firstly hydrocephalous is where your body stops absorbing your brain fluid. Long story short… All of the excess fluid pools up on your brain causing excessive pressure. In order to relieve the pressure they must do brain surgery and place a shut, which will drain the excess fluid and relieve the pressure. In my case, all of that excess pressure was unable to be relieved before it put sever pressure on my Optic Nerves. This pressure on my Optic Nerves caused severe nerve damage. The nerve damage has left my vision at “finger vision” at 3 inches. Finger vision meaning if you asked me how many fingers you were holding up they wold need to be approximately 3 inches from my face for me to tell you how many. Even then they can’t be in my blind spots where I have no vision at all. Yes I get to walk with one of those cool white canes… it’s kind of over rated let me tell ya.

OK! Now that we got that out of the way. How do I take photos? Since losing my vision I have tried view my children’s athletic events with little success. I used scopes, binoculars, monoculars, you name it. All of those and many more with no luck. In 2021 I purchased a Canon T5i to record some Youtube content, and never did… In the fall of 2021 I decided I would take this camera to my daughters Little Gridders Game just to see if I could get some photos. I didn’t have any expectations. I figured I would be taking photos at random and would have to see what they look like once i could get them home. However once I put the viewfinder up to my (it’s within the 3” range) I realized I that I could actually see my daughters game. I could watch her and her friends play. I had the gift of sight back if only while looking through the lens.

After that break through I decided that if I am going to be holding a camera up to my face to watch the games, then I could at least learn how to take actual photographs and not just random snap shots. Since then I have immersed myself in photography. But then again, if you lost your vision and found something to give it back to you for short periods of time, wouldn’t you?