SF0 / annemarie / Seeing Beyond Sight Photo Challenge

30 + 10 points

Seeing Beyond Sight Photo Challenge by annemarie

February 20th, 2007 6:52 AM

INSTRUCTIONS: Seeing Beyond Sight has partnered with SFZero to challenge you to see the world differently - with more than your eyes.

Welcome new users: SFZero is an ongoing game in which you can choose to participate (or not) after you do the Seeing Beyond Sight Challenge.

Click here for new user registration.

1. Blindfold yourself.
(wear shades or tape your eyes shut)

2. Go out in public and make your way in the world.
(go 1 block, 1 hour or 1 roll of film; go with a friend or alone; make up your own process)

3. Photograph things you notice. And, just notice.
(What do you notice differently about objects, people, actions, interactions?)

4. Embrace the whole experience as much as the picture taking.
(Engage. Have a conversation with people you encounter. Take it all in.)

5. Share your story.
(For each photograph write a caption about your experience - a few lines or several paragraphs if you want.)

6. Challenge some friends to do it.
(email them the link: sf0.org/seeingbeyondsight)

Please don't post all the pictures from your shoot, but chose 1 to 3 that are the best images or are most telling of your experience. Caption the photos describing something about your experience - that is as important as the image itself. Longer stories are welcomed and may be added to www.seeingbeyondsight.org.

If you depend on your eyes to get around, then it is hard not to use them. Although you can tell us about how difficult it is to be blind, focus more on what you noticed about the world as you embarked on this journey.

This experience isn’t about blindness – it is about seeing, noticing and paying attention with more than your eyes.

This challenge was inspired by SEEING BEYOND SIGHT: PHOTOGRAPHY BY BLIND TEENAGERS, a new book published by Chronicle Books.

a beach is my most favorite space so i was very peaceful being blindfolded here. I walked for half an hour blindfolded but easily could have continued for hours more..........unblindfolded i usually notice the sound and sight of waves crashing onshore (the bigger the better - roaring rhythm) - but blindfolded i noticed more the peaceful receding of the waves over the rocks - in some moments reminded me of a gentle stream. a blindfold will now be a beach bag staple :-D

- smaller

red stripe

unprompted, my daughter began narrating her sight and asked me to hold out my hand so she could gently put the rocks she found in my hand as she said "Feel how smooth these are and the big one is reddish brown with a cool stripe." Would I have noticed the animation in her voice if I was not blindfolded? I used to be a shell collector at the beach, but I am now noticing, feeling and collecting beach rocks instead :D

grace

this is the large rock i tripped over - but odds are i probably would have tripped over it even if i was not blindfolded ;-D

notice

going upstairs was more comfortable than going down - although I felt there were many more stairs than i remembered when i had to notice each one - navigating one at a time. (could take these observations in many directions ;-D)