Scott Bradshaw
Andrew Follows. The Blind Photographer
2015
Blind photographer; it’s an oxymoron. To interpret the chaos of the world and reconstruct it through the barrel of a lens is intimidating even to the fully sighted. Now imagine 90% of your vision disappearing. Seem like an impossibly daunting task? Try telling that to Andrew Follows.
Legally blind his entire life, Andrew gained a new lease on life in 2008 when he picked up his first “pocket rocket” – a term he has coined for your standard consumer point and shoot camera. In a world where analogue fetishism disregards technology as cold and isolating, digital photography gave Andrew a lens through which he could finally see the big picture.
Meeting Andrew is a revelation. There is no pretension when he speaks of his passion, simply warmth. Despite being exhibited in cities such as Paris, Edinburgh and Luxembourg, Andrew is open to discussing his techniques and working methods. “[Photographers] don’t like to share. They’re very protective on how they take their photographs. With me I just want to show everyone”.
Andrew uses his incredible story to inspire others. He runs a series of workshops inclusive to both the impaired and fully able, to break stigmas and mentalities of what a blind person can and can’t do.
Behind the camera he is confident and decisive. In front of it he is bashful, shy and almost embarrassed. Perhaps as a way to acclimatise to the situation, Andrew immediately directs our photographer. “Open the windows, you’ll get more light… Maybe you could take a photo in the mirror… I think this room would be best for this photograph”.
Andrew refuses to be defined by his condition. He is a photographer above anything else.
“It’ll look better this way. Trust me,” says the blind man.
Andy McCallum
Scott Bradshaw
Untitled (Portrait of Andrew Follows)
2015
My eye condition is called retinitis pigmentosa. It’s an eye disease that affects people differently. So in my case there’s no vision in my left eye and tunnel vision in my right eye. The tunnel would be about the size of a 20 cent piece. I’ve always had it.
Is your eyesight deteriorating?
Yes. Slowly.
Will it ever fully go?
Yeah.
Do you have any idea how long until that happens?
No.
Isn’t that scary?
… Yeah.
Scott Bradshaw
Untitled (Andrew in front of his computer screens)
2015
“If we didn’t have digital we would still have film and I wouldn’t be getting anywhere… It was because you could take the card out and put it though the TV or the computer and all of a sudden I was seeing a lot more than a normal film print. I could magnify it. I started to see more detail; more shapes, more colours, more textures. The camera is my eyes!”
Scott Bradshaw
Untitled (Andrew in front of his computer screens)
2015
“That’s the reason I do the workshops. A – to show the mainstream what it’s like to be a visually impaired photographer through simulator glasses. And for low vision people it’s to show them that you can use the cameras at all. To see the world that they can’t see, just by taking the photo and putting it through the computer.”
Scott Bradshaw
Untitled (Andrew in front a work from his series ‘Night Oceans’ 2012 )
2015
I have a natural eye for photography.
Even though you only have 10% of your vision?
As far as I’m concerned I’m getting there. I’ve still got a lot of work to do. I’ve accomplished in the 8 years I’ve been doing this, what usually takes 10-15 years to do. I’m just scratching the surface… A lot of people just sit at home and wait for the world to come to them.
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