Has camera will photograph
I started taking photographs as a way to better see the world around me, and to share why my visual impairment doesn’t mean I see less rather I just see differently.
2022
Four of my photographs feature in the Layers of Vision exhibition being held at Bush House, Kings College London. You can find out more on this news page.
2021
My trusty Nikon D7200 stops working on a trip to Brighton, one too many knocks and bumps. I invest in a new mirrorless Nikon Z50. I am still getting used to the new camera a year on.
2013
I start taking photographs at work, mainly at bus campaign events and my pictures are featured in RNIB’s Bus Charter.
2008
My husband Jase, gives me his point and shoot Casio camera to take on holiday to Cornwall. I absolutely love it, using my laptop to zoom in on the pictures I have taken to really see the subject. It’s not an understatement to say it changed my life.
About my visual impairment
I was born with cataracts which caused blindness. So I am unusual for someone with a visual impairment in that I gained sight rather than lost it. As a baby I had a series of operations which removed the cataracts but also removed the lenses in both my eyes. I was also left with a number of other eye conditions which relate to visual impairment such as nystagmus. Not having lenses in my eyes means that my eyes are unable to focus or change focus.
I am often asked “what can you see?” This always strikes me as an odd thing to ask a visually impaired person. But as it is relevant to my photography I will try to explain about it here. I see the world around me a little like an impressionist painting. With out the ability to focus I don’t see the level of detail most others see. The world I see is soft, blurry, and beautiful. I see colours vividly, and I see light differently to others, not having lenses in my eyes means that UV light isn’t filtered and I can see low levels of UV that other people can’t. It’s my super power, though I haven’t found a way to save the world with it yet!
When I’m not taking photographs
I’ve done a lot of different things in my life. I was a teacher of English and Drama, I’ve worked in a jobcentre, and in a laundry at a nursing home. I’ve spent over 20 years championing disability rights especially in the areas of accessible transport and employment.
I’m a bit of an equality law geek, having co-ordinated the drafting of codes of practise for the Disability Discrimination Act and drafted examples for guidance that sits along side the Equality Act.
For the last 12 years I’ve run my own business providing advice, training and support to various organisations and employers . If you want to see more about what I’ve done in the disability rights filed please visit www.hareonna.com
When I’m not working I write a bit, a read a lot, I play computer games, eat cake, drink coffee, go for walks in the countryside and look after my cat’s every whim and fancy. Look how pleased she is with herself.
