14 DAY TRIAL // When shooting, you’d naturally assume, photographers mostly rely on sight combined with their inner vision and creativity. But what if we told you there is a photographer that relies only on its inner eye to capture some of the most interesting pieces ever shot.
Australian-based Brendon Borellini isn't your usual photographer and that’s mostly due to his illness. He has been born with congenital deafness and partial blindness, which has escalated into full-blown blindness as he advanced into adulthood.
What we have told you above might be puzzling to you, but it’s a fact that Borellini has managed to put his disability behind and to do whatever he set up to do.
Growing up, Borellini received help and guidance from the Special Education Unit at the Cavendish Road State School in Brisbane that helped him cope with his limitations, but at the same time made him realize he can go beyond them to do whatever he chooses to do in life.
But after Borellini moved from Brisbane to Brenden, he met Steve Mayer-Miller who is the artistic director for the Crossroads Arts organization, which helps people will different disabilities express themselves through art.
Mayer-Miller worked with deaf and blind people before, but Borellini’s case was a special one. At the beginning, they started tackling photography more as a joke, with Borellini picking up the camera and snapping photographs randomly throughout the day.
Mayer-Miller had to explain each button and their function to our blind photographer, and upon completion of this tutorial Borellini took it up himself to improve in the art of photo shooting.
But it’s interesting how this is achieved. Unlike most photographers who rely on sight when shooting their work, Borellini has to rely on something else. Instead, he has to “feel” the images he wants to snap.
Once a photograph has been taken, it is uploaded so it can receive feedback through a machine that converts text to braille. Thus Borellini will be getting tips about improving his composition, light, shutter, effect and depth.
But what is our blind photographer actually seeing when snapping those photographs? This exact question prompted the art group helping Borellini research a device that could turn a 2D image into a 3D image so Brenden could have access to “sensing” the textures in the photograph.
It should be pointed out, aesthetic photography wasn't the main purpose here, but rather helping this atypical photographer focus his creativity in an effort to connect with the world around him.
