SF0 / lamarnza / Seeing Beyond Sight Photo Challenge

30 + 22 points

Seeing Beyond Sight Photo Challenge by Celestia Ridgemore

November 13th, 2010 11:17 PM

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.

When I started out, I was very disoriented and unsettled, and jumped every few steps at the uneven ground, constantly tugging at my blindfold. However, as I continued to walk, I became less fixated on what I wasn't seeing and more on what I was hearing. This was the main sense that strengthened since I wasn't in close proximity to stimulants for taste, touch, and smell. At one point, I ended up in the street, and when I was nearly hit by a car, I had to take off the blindfold and orient myself. I'd already been walking for fifteen minutes, and knew I could have marked it off as a praxis and gone home, but I actually felt more disoriented now that I could see again, and put the blindfold back on. I continued feeling much more comfortable relying on only my feet and my ears. Eventually, after another half hour and several circles of the park, I restored my vision and returned home.

- smaller

finding my way

I kept to the path like the coward I am, using the feel of grass beneath my feet as a navigator. When the walking got soft...I was off course.

the universe keeps turning...

Every time a car rushed by, I would spin around trying to figure out which direction the sound was coming from.

rustle in the wind

It was a very windy day, and the trees were considerably talkative. The palm trees were especially chatty.

o--o stairs

I nearly had a heart attack when I got to the stairs. Luckily, I didn't topple down them like a stalk of dominos, but my when my foot found air instead of concrete, I was very scared. I navigated down them successfully nonetheless, using the plants on the side as guides, although these had their own disadvantages...

pricklypatches

...While they kept me from falling, the initial patch of flowers alongside the stairs soon turned to very sharp, prickly bushes. It didn't hurt more than my cat when she wants to play, though, and provided an interesting experience for my sightless senses.