APOGEE PHOTO MAGAZINE: Disabled? Not With Photography

Disabled? Not With Photography

by Bill Miller

A few years back, I stopped being an active, assignment-based photographer due to changes in my lifestyle—our children were in college and my legs began to give out. If you can’t walk, you can’t work, so I limited my business to selling stock photos and teaching field photography workshops. I can still make photographs for myself or for stock sales, but not as aggressively as I have in the past. A casual observer might not notice the limitation in my mobility in normal situations, but my new restrictions would be more than obvious whenever a typical deliberate pace over even terrain is not enough. The difference is subtle, but unrelenting.

Millions of people are handicapped in some way, and nearly all of them have hobbies, interests, and/or professions that enrich their lives and allow them to express their creativity but are difficult to perform with physical limitations. However, they find/invent ways to solve the problems involved in carrying equipment, walking, and finding access to difficult locations.

The creativity that allows affected individuals to cope with handicaps is well illustrated by physicist Stephen Hawkins who works from a wheelchair, using computer-generated speech to deliver his lectures. Or, consider Richard Avedon who manages to conduct a fashion shoot while he’s lying in a hospital bed with a broken neck. It’s clear that humans can overcome great challenges by utilizing will plus scientific/medical technology.

The following represents the adaptations and advice I’ve accumulated so far to enable me to continue my photographic work in spite of my mobility difficulties:

Pack for a photo trip efficiently. (If I don’t need to carry an item, I leave it in the car.)
Use a monopod for the camera and support for my legs while hiking (i.e. employ the single-legged camera support often used by photojournalists to steady their shots when they’re working with long/fast lenses at sporting events).
Use zoom lenses (to enable me to carry one or two lenses instead of the former four to six).
Include only accessories that fit into my jacket or vest pocket.
Carry and take medications I might need plus back-up meds in a pocket (i.e. sugar tablets for hypoglycemia due to diabetes as well as pain medication).
Plan my travel and location itinerary in advance using practiced ways to access locations.
Know that I can overcome some of my new disabilities without denying that they exist.
If I can’t drive due to medication, I don’t. I let someone else drive.

Going on a road trip or simply getting outdoors to make photographs can be manageable, if you’re prepared and willing to learn new ways to enjoy your hobby. As a matter of fact, my only adaptation issue now is to find new ways to enjoy photography when I’m not on assignment. I look to my personal discipline to invent personal assignments beyond just going somewhere to take pictures. I’ll pass along any new wisdom I acquire in the process.