Disabled Photography

Jammy Dodger said:
Thanks for this excellent reply and everyone else who has replied.

I am looking at getting a folding electric wheelchair to fit in my car but worried about getting off trains and buses, any tips regarding this?

I have joined a camera club and projects are set which is good.

It hit home when my best mate shot some stunning landscapes but I couldn't even dream of getting to the location.
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I think you need to change your outlook from disabled to less abled.

This may sound harsh, but it is this attitude that got me through my loss of mobility over the last three years.
I have a powered wheelchair and an all terrain mobility scooter, one of which is permanently in my car. The car is fitted with an electric hoist to lift my chair and scooter so I can go anywhere in the country on my photographic trips.

While I agree a lot of forward planning is needed, I have travelled the North Coast 500, Snowdonia and several other locations for landscapes, many cities for street photography, and wildlife centres for nature photography. There is also the garden for bird photography and macro photography.

Believe me when I say Google maps is your friend, if a location can be reached by car, then it is within your reach. So many people with mobility issues are regarded as disabled - well p*** on them, I say. I am an able photographer who is less abled in getting around. Simples!!!
 
"Hi Charley,

I used to do a number of still life shoots on film with a small studio in my garage. My garage is a bit full at the moment but must sort it out as I loved it!

Here are some shots: "

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Well done! You likely enjoyed doing them too. See, it doesn't take a fancy studio to make great still life photography. If the garage is full (mine is too), the living room, dining room, or kitchen can handle shots like this. You just have to set up for it, take the shots, and then pack everything back in the closet. I worked this way through my whole photography life, renting time in studios occasionally, or even convincing a friend to let me use their garage, etc. for a shoot. Then 5 years ago I realized that with my son married and gone from the house, that the 2nd master bedroom suite upstairs in my home was now empty, except for some of his left behind junk. So I began building/converting his former room (the 2nd master bedroom suite) into my first real photo/video studio. The shooting room (former bedroom) is 19' by 26' but only 8' ceilings (my biggest limitation, but I'm making do). I have 2 walk-in closets for gear and props. The large hallway at the top of the stairs is the hair/make-up and break area, and there is a full bath off the shooting room (being rebuilt).

For shoot ideas, I get some of them from looking at magazines, TV commercials, or just by looking at something in the house and deciding how to do a shoot with it. I have a notebook full of cartoon type line drawings where I sketch my ideas, then sometimes go back and add or modify them, and when I decide to do one of these shoots I thumb through the notebook to help me decide which to do, or maybe one will give me new ideas for an entirely different shoot.

I have an appointment, but will add more to this tonight.

Charley
 
Fogey1 said:
I think you need to change your outlook from disabled to less abled.

This may sound harsh, but it is this attitude that got me through my loss of mobility over the last three years.
I have a powered wheelchair and an all terrain mobility scooter, one of which is permanently in my car. The car is fitted with an electric hoist to lift my chair and scooter so I can go anywhere in the country on my photographic trips.

While I agree a lot of forward planning is needed, I have travelled the North Coast 500, Snowdonia and several other locations for landscapes, many cities for street photography, and wildlife centres for nature photography. There is also the garden for bird photography and macro photography.

Believe me when I say Google maps is your friend, if a location can be reached by car, then it is within your reach. So many people with mobility issues are regarded as disabled - well p*** on them, I say. I am an able photographer who is less abled in getting around. Simples!!!
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Bloody right! Ride it like you stole it, I say. :D
 
There expensive but you could take a look at some Creativity Hub workshops.
Or get some translucent plastic items and a couple of sheets of polarising gel and do cross polarised images.
A cheap flash gum and an extention cable and you can do water drop images and back lit jelly babies or similar. Quite a bit of stuff you can do with a basic flash. Got an air gun? Freeze a pellet cutting a card, really hard to do.
Or spend some time learning advanced editing skills.
A Birds of prey workshop at a sanctuary would nit need much walking around.
 
Here is the result of an experiment I did recently.

I wanted to restrict the light diameter to the point where it only illuminated the top bud area of the roses. Using my Godox SK400 as a light source and adding a snoot, even with the included 60 degree grid did not produce the desired result. A 7" reflector and a 10 degree grid produced this with the light about 54" from the roses. A little light spill on the vase and table, but I expected this. I probably could have flagged this out, possibly by adding barn doors to the 7" reflector, but I decided to leave this light spill, since without it the table and vase would be invisible and not provide a complete photo in my mind. Of course, moving the light closer to the roses would reduce the spot size a little more too. This is an unprocessed shot as it came from the camera. About the only thing that I would change in POST is to remove the bright reflection on the vase. I got busy, and haven't done anything with this yet. I'll get back to still life shooting the next time that I have little to do. I usually fall back on it whenever I don't have other work coming in. It keeps me busy.

Two more table cloth colors in 54" the square size are due to arrive tomorrow, making more possibilities for future still life ideas for shots.

Charley
 

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It might be that the things that you previously enjoyed photographing are no longer accessible to you. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing for you as a photographer.
I know it was mentioned earlier in this thread, but I think you should lean into your disability as a photographer. Remember - photography isn't just about taking nice photos of random things, photography is about communicating something to the viewer through your work. Think about what it is that you want the viewer to understand, and figure out a way to communicate that through your photography. This is a mindset that you may not have explored before, but it's worthwhile thinking about.

Think about the ways in which your photography is different, and lean into that concept.
If you get tremors and shake, make photographs which show this.
If you are wheelchair bound, your perspective is naturally altered and how you navigate through daily life is also different - you can show this in your images.
Have your interactions with strangers changed now? Those experiences could make for an interesting street photography project.

You are in a unique position to show others what life is like for you - to communicate to them how you see the world and how you feel about your situation. I would absolutely be interested in seeing a body of work based around this.
 
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