Disabled photographers & their equipment

<p>I recently decided to go back to college where I am currently going full time for Occupational Therapy. All of this while still pursuing my dream of doing photography for a living. Well, in calss today the professor finally gave me a case study to work with that was right up my alley as far as being something that really intrested me. Our patient in our case study is a C6 tetraplegic (paraplegic) and we are supposed to come up with ways to adapt photography so that he can still do it from his wheel chair, etc. I came up with the idea of, what better to do than to try to find another photography lover who may be in this situation to give some pointers, ideas, and advice. The paper is due this Thur, so I dont have alot of time (if you read this after that and can still post, please do!...my professor has asked me to share as much as possible, even if it's down the road!). So if you or someone you know fits this criteria, please respond back! Also, if you have any photos of equipment that you have bought, manufactured, or seen that would be great too! If you are disabled, but not a paraplegic, still feel free to share your experiences and ideas! There may be some things that could cross over to this case. Im really looking forward to finding out more information on this to combine the two things I love; photography & therapy! Thanks so much for your help!<br />Shawn</p>

<p>In the UK there is the Disabled Photographers Society, for which you could probably find the website via google, there may be things of interest to you there.</p>

<p>Shawn, what an excellent undertaking! I can't offer any help other than to say that a quick google search on "photography disabled" turns up a lot of resources. It's relatively easy to wade through all the "pictures of disabled people" links to find the useful ones. If you want any help searching this stuff, holler at me. In any event, great idea -- keep it up!</p>

<p>From ERIC.ed.gov (in case you happen to overlook it)</p>

<p><a href="http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1f/b0/35.pdf">http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1f/b0/35.pdf</a></p>

<p>Wow Kevin! That was an amazing source, and I have yet to even wade through all 72 pages...lol. I will definately try to look through it more tonight and tomorrow. I know I looked online some and didnt really find a whole lot. What I did find was a photographer who is a paraplegic who I have had an e-mail conversation with about a couple of things. It really does feel good and makes you want to find out as much information as possible when trying to work with combingin a couple of things you love. I love photography, and I love helping people do the things they enjoy in life, which is why I decided to get into occupational therapy. So thank you sooooooo very much for the help as well as the support.</p>

<p>Glad to help. I'll email you more urls as I find them, so as not to tie up bandwidth in this thread. I've also posted links to this page in a couple of other forums in hopes some might respond.</p>

<p>Hello Everyone. While I don't have any information to add, I would like to ask if you would be so kind as to post here or email me with any tips or hints you may come across. My family is very involved with our local Special Olympics group and have been trying to figure out a way to start up a photography group for as many of them as would like to participate. Of course some of them need more adaptations than others and any insight you may have would be greatly appreciated. Our hope is to give them another means of expressing themselves, maybe even enter their art at the local fair or sell photos for fund raisers if they want. Thanks and good luck.</p>

<p>Shawn, maybe you can forward the links I emailed you to Michael -- I didn't save them. </p>

<p>Michael, my wife was a very active psychologist at South Mississippi Regional Center with expertise in developmental delay/retardation and mental illness issues, assisting children to adults. She still has contacts there and may be able to get some info on the subject... I'll post back here if/when I can find anything on this. Best of luck!</p>

<p>This is a bit OT, but this link could probably encourage disabled people. It's about Josef Sudek, a czech photographer who lost one arm during WW I and worked as a photographer afterwards. With a wooden field camera and a Kodak Panorama cam. Did his own darkroom work as well. Beautiful pictures!</p>

<p>Sorry, link was missing.<br>

<a href="http://www.masters-of-fine-art-photography.com/02/artphotogallery/photographers/josef_sudek_01.html">http://www.masters-of-fine-art-photography.com/02/artphotogallery/photographers/josef_sudek_01.html</a></p>

<p>I had a fair number of patients with spina bifida. One young man has been in a wheelchair for most of his life, but photography is his passion. He does have the use of his hands. He uses an 8x10 view camera. Everything folds down into a knapsack that is on the back of his wheelchair. He has a post which he can mount onto his wheelchair to hold the camera. The rest is then regular large-format photography.</p>

<p>You could probably adapt the same thing for your patient by using a post in his wheelchair to hold an autofocus digital SLR. A long cable release, or bulb-air release could be used - in his mouth if needed - to trigger the camera.</p>

<p>Saw some excellent work in Santa Barbara done by a quadraplegic (or very nearly), wheelchair bound, very limited use of hands, used a hassy with waist level finder, and I think an autowinder.<br>

If you have an electronics geek who can rig servos (?) and little gizmos and the like, I've got this old Seagull TLR I could mail you to experiment...yeah, I know you're only doing a paper at this point, but I need to get a bunch of stuff out of my house, I can barely navigate anymore</p>

 

<p>Thank you so much for all of your help guys. I checked through all of the sites everyone gave me on here and that people e-mailed me. They were all of great help. I am sorry I have not responded sooner, but my lovely internet provider cut a main line, and my entire area has been out of internet since Wed morning. Luckilly I was already done with everything. The funny thing is that I never thought of anything about this until it was brought to my attention. I feel like this has sparked a great intrest to see what I may be able to do with all of this. I will be sending you a e-mail Jack, cause I am definately interrested in playing around with some things. I will definately try to keep you guys that are interrested in what I might try to do in future up to date on what I'm doing, or what I may be able to accomplish with this project. Everyone else in my class thinks I am crazy for taking on the extra work. I call it being passionate about trying to help others do what I love to do so much. Thanks again for everyones help. Below are a few of the links I received that held me out greatly for people that may be interrested in checking some of them out. One cool thing that was about a stand to attach to the wheel chair was sent to me via a pdf file, so if someone is interrested in that, you can e-mail me.<br>

<a href="http://www.shuttervoice.com/default.asp">http://www.shuttervoice.com/default.asp</a><br>

<a href="http://www.ableize.com/disabled-arts/photography/" target="_blank">http://www.ableize.com/disabled-arts/photography/</a><br>

<a href="http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/52774" target="_blank">http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/52774</a><br>

<a href="http://www.oandp.com/products/trs/sports-recreation/photography.asp" target="_blank">http://www.oandp.com/products/trs/sports-recreation/photography.asp</a></p>

 

<p>I'm a c5/6 tetraplegic in my second year studying a BA (Hons) Photography degree at Middlesex university.</p>

<p>This John McCafferty? http://www.johnmcfund.com/home.htm If so you're quite the inspiration to make it from the accident to studying Photography at Middlesex....well done.</p>

<p>Yep, thats me.<br>

I'm currently finishing an MA in Photography and usually shoot on an RZ67. See my website and most recent works.<br>

www.johnmcphoto.com<br>

http://www.photovoice.org/whatwedo/info/bursary-2011-john-mccafferty<br>

http://www.vsarts.org/PreBuilt/showcase/gallery/exhibits/Calls/Shift/index.html</p><div></div>