My desire is to be supported in my photographic visual interpretation, and my mission to awake the visual arts community into accepting the visually impaired and blind, for their perceptions and interpretations. Importantly, I want my work to be taken seriously at an artistic level, contributing to the world around us.

When I take a photograph I am capturing an event in time which we will never get to experience again, ensuring it can be relished in and explored indefinitely; light will never dance on water in exactly the same way, structures will collapse and landscapes burn, grow and be built upon. Yet images can always be viewed. I have always had a passion for photography so three years ago I completed an eight month course under the tutelage of Martin Bonnici from Photography made Easy to enhance my skills. Since then I have continued to train myself and adapt my technique to obtain the results I desire.

Unfortunately there are not many other blind photographers in Australia and those who I have made contact with were already taking photographs before their eyesight deteriorated, unlike myself where this was something I always wanted to do but didn’t think I could. Suffering from Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative ocular disease that renders me legally blind and reliant on my guide dog Eamon to move about, my world is blurred and distorted, lacking any detail. For many years I never knew what I was missing, even moderate light causes me to white-out completely.

When I take a photograph I do so because, in that time and place, I cannot see what the camera can yet I know that image, that event will be waiting for me when I am ready and able to view it. In this way the camera becomes my eyes and my photographs my only way of experiencing a past moment from which I am otherwise excluded. Instead of wallowing in what I cannot see I become excited by what I can. As my condition worsens I will eventually become totally blind yet, until then my work continues to evolve.

I have been told that today my work is an “impressionist blend of Monet and Turner. It encompasses Monet’s elegance of light, form, reflections and nature and boldly embraces Turner’s power of contrasts, explosions of colour and vitality”. I have never seen these artists work. Due to my condition I probably never will but I will I continue to evolve, and delight in my passion for as long I am able.

I hope this gives you an insight into my world of photography and that it encourages others to either take up the art of photography or any form of artistic adventures.

This week I put together a workshop for country kids from Berry Street Shepparton and sponsored by volunteers from Ernst &Young, at Federation Square Melbourne. The program ran for over an hour where we did some exercises using blind folds on how difficult it can be to do basic things with no sight, then moving into taking photos of fruit while waring special glasses that simulate poor vision. The kids were challenged, where some were amazed on how hard it can be. Even the simple thing of smelling became confusing for them. The workshop was designed to show that there are no boundaries and if you have a passion in life to go with it. We did spend a little to much on blindness and not enough on photography. With a power point display showing my images, will next time spend more time on photography and less on blindness.  I even got the staff to take part which was wonderful to see. There is still a lot of room for improvements but I now have the platform for future workshop program development. Thank you to Berry Street for the opportunity to show the kids another side of life. Over all it was a successful program as I look forward to the next program delivery.

Also, I must say thank you to management and staff at Federation Square Melbourne, for there great support for the program and look forward in working with them again in the future.

After hearing on the radio that the Melbourne Classic cars were driving through the city,  I crabbed my gear and trained it in. Standing on a city corner I had a great spot to photograph some of the old classic cars driving through town on their way to the Exhibition Buildings for a weekend of exhibiting old world brilliance in motoring. Photo below is a magnificent red Mercedes. Still a great looking car after all these years. later on, I went down to Victoria Gardens where I caught up with a good photographer mate of mine, where he had some of his mates in the park, practicing for there weekend of competitions. The fighting is 14th century European sword combat fighting. There is a name for it but at this point I can’t remember the right name for it. I spent 2 hours photographing the boys doing what they love doing best. The hard play really  shows as they use there minds to try and think ahead on what the opposition is going to do next.   Was a great honor to capture some of these moments.

Driving back from the country, we stopped at the fire tower at Kangaroo Ground, about 30 ks East of Melbourne. As the sun settles and dusk falls, I capture the distant ridges of the city sky line with the sun setting as a back drop to create this magic image of Melbourne .

Sun setting behind the skyline of Melbourne.

Andrew will be running his very first photography workshops with a difference for a group of country teenagers very soon. Through the great support of Federation Square Melbourne, this workshop is to show the young people into the world of no sight and how you over come ability to become a photographer.   The workshop is a total interactive program to show how you can use your other senses when you are unable to see. Such as smell, touch, hot, cold. Then venturing outside to see how they go in photographing landscapes, portraits. For 2 hours the young people will be thinking like a photographer with no vision. What a great challenge for them.

Andrew had a fantastic photo shoot,  photographing Melbourne at night where he captured some amazing images. Taking photos along the Yarra River and out the front of the National Gallery of Victoria on Saint Kilda Road, Andrew’s images reflect on what he enjoys taking the most. Andrew loves night photography as he can see the contrasts of light against darkness of the night sky. With the movment of reflective water and light traffic, Andrew shows us the true meaning of seeing beyond your own vision. Andrew was noting that while people were walking past him, they were not looking around on the gloriousness and the beauty of the night lights, as they were missing out on sights that you only see in the darkness of the  night.

Saint Kilda Road Melbourne

Yarra River Melbourne

Playing with my Nikon Macro 85. It’s amazing how something so small can look so big in colour and size. With out the Macro, I wouldn’t be able to see this at all.