Article and images reprinted from the February ~ March 2008 issue of
Article and images reprinted from the February ~ March 2008 issue of
|
|
by Bill Hedrick
As professional photographers, the world of beauty and form is something
we often take for granted. We admire and appreciate good art and strive
to provide our clients with something that is pleasing to the eye. But
imagine what it must be like living in the world of the legally blind...
not being able to see objects unless they were just a few inches from
your face... or not being able to see anything at all. Try to picture a
world of out of focus shapes. Then, imagine having someone teach you how
to optimize what visual perception you have.
 |
|---|
Carrell was originally hired to teach physical education at the TSBVI. But one day she marched into the superintendent’s office and made a rather unusual offer... to teach art to the blind and visually impaired. It was the beginning of an experience that would shape her own photographic style for years to come. "From the very beginning, the students taught me more than I taught them," she explains. "My world of perception broadened and I became committed to helping them use every ability they had to enjoy their environment. Our world was mostly the TSBVI campus, but it was rich in strong angles from ramps and wonderful shadows from every structure."
Her goal was to teach students with low vision to "want" to see the world, so she used visual arts, including photography, to teach them composition. "I taught them to follow leading lines, shadow, and color, to enhance how they saw things. Of course, I didn’t realize at the time that I was using many merit print rules in order to get students to notice things, but now I often hear print judges describe images in terms I used with my students. Even with sculpture and pottery for totally blind students, I transformed basic visual cues into tools to make objects more interesting for them."
 |
|---|
The program that Carrell created at TSBVI to teach legally blind children to see better through photography was called "VisionQuest" and has since become a model internationally. "Bear in mind that there was no precedent for any of this," says Carrell. "I made it up as I went." In the mid-1980’s, technology would play a major role in Carrell’s classroom with the introduction of auto-focus cameras. "We had students who could do everything but focus. They were thrilled to be able to compose an image, take the picture, then process the print in the darkroom, where they could see the image in focus for the first time. Most of them could see up close... about three inches... but not at a distance. One student even had the ability to see better in low light and only in black and white, which made him a natural for the darkroom." Another of Carrell’s students went on to attend Austin Community College’s photography program and is perhaps the only legally blind person to do so anywhere.
 |
|---|
It was during this time that Carrell Grigsby began her career as a professional photographer. In 1997 she left teaching to become a full time photographer. By that time, she had taken graduate courses in photography at the University of Texas at Austin and had joined her local guild, as well as Texas PPA and the Professional Photographers of America. She considers the Texas School of Professional Photography to be "heads above" any other training she has received.
Carrell has been an artist all her life. Her early drawings and paintings were what we now call "photorealistic" and reflected her desire to produce art from what she observed. "For practice, I often spent hours drawing from photographs. Today, I enjoy comparing my early drawings made from photographs with recent photographs made into paintings," she relates.
 |
|---|
As a student at the University of Texas at Austin, Carrell had the opportunity to study under Russell Lee. "I was lucky to be in the UT art department when he was teaching and truly feel that I might have missed being a photographer completely without his guidance, both as a person and as a photographer."
Years later, another Austin photographer by the name of Bette Mayfield hired Carrell to assist her and to photograph weddings. Soon, Carrell was doing portraits and weddings on her own. Later, her specialty would move from weddings to portraits and then to scenic art. "I carry my camera and equipment everywhere... even when I’m playing golf or traveling."
Carrell works on location and at her home studio in Austin. "My dining and living room turns into a studio in less than ten minutes. Clients walk into a nice home and are immediately comfortable. When they return to my home office to view the session, the studio setup is transformed into a high tech computer room with multiple displays. I also do work in front of my clients... something that many photographers prefer not to do. I spend time letting my clients see just how much expertise goes into creating the perfect image. They are impressed with the artistry and are willing to pay me to do something that they can’t do themselves," she says.
Like many other photography studios, Carrell Grigsby Photography is a "family" operation. "My husband, Steve, is a retired geologist. His scientific understanding of light made him a better second light man than any photographer," says Carrell. "Our daughter Carijane has a degree in art and does design work and is a constant inspiration to me."
 |
|---|
Carrell uses an array of Canon digital cameras and accessories and has been "digital" since the year 2000. In fact, her expertise with Photoshop goes back even further. "I’ve had Photoshop since its birth. My original version was ten floppies and a version that said ‘Photoshop’ with no version number at all," she adds.
Some of the finest professional photographers in the world are now in the classroom, dedicating their lives to passing on their skill, knowledge, and expertise to a new generation of professional photographers. However, few of them can say that they were able to do what Carrell Grigsby has pioneered... teaching an art form to the blind and visually impaired. But, for Carrell, it is all about making the world a better place and raising the bar of excellence and increasing our awareness of the world around us.