Seeing Beyond Sight: Photographs by Blind Teenagers

by Tony Deifell, Robert Coles (Foreword)

With its ambitious, seemingly paradoxical premise, Seeing Beyond Sight is a book of photographs taken by teenagers with limited or no sight. Seeing Beyond Sight documentshow educator Tony Deifell taught his blind students to take pictures as an innovative, multi-sensory means of self-expression. Their intuitive images are surprising and often beautiful. Complementing the photographs are the students' own words explaining what the process and images mean to them. Seeing Beyond Sight is a rare book of visual art and an educational resource that speaks with inspirational power, not only to the visually impaired community, but to anyone who has ever considered what it means to see.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Art

152 pages, Hardcover

First published February 22, 2007

Reviews

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is completely awesome. I saw a few of these photos on exhibition at the Center for Documentary Studies and they knocked me out. Excellent work, Mr. Deifell! Fantastic job, kids! These photos are genius.

[marianglibag · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the reason for the use of black and white film was explained, the students were able to capture the sentiment and feeling of a captured memoir. This is more than just a collectible book for photography; this has shaped my way of seeing. An understanding and feeling of stories through photographs to the views of people with sight, from the views of people who are seeing beyond sight.

Most people see to photograph; I photograph to see.

Tony Deifell's journey for this book drove me to admire Evgen Bavčar's works more than ever. A photograph may tell a story just by being itself. It truly serves as a stark reminder of how sight can get in the way of seeing; how the sighted world overly deciphers and dissects meanings on a photograph captured alone to portray the world simply in a different way.

[JL Salty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: pg - hunting description, gun in a photo. Reference to taking nude photos and pretending she didn’t know (that made me laugh whether or not I should…?!) - some of this felt a little edgy. No profanity. No violence.
Recommend: 13 and up

SUCH an interesting book.
Have a second set of eyes read.

[Kiki Sayre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Photographer Tony Deifell was inspired to try to teach photography to blind students from a story about a blind photographer on public radio. After convincing a skeptical administrator, he volunteered his time in an after-school program with students at Governor Morehead School in South Carolina. Providing each with a point-and-shoot camera and some tips on composition—making sure the sun was behind them, holding the camera level, not cutting off anyone’s head—he sent the students out to take pictures.

When the developed photographs came back, Tony admits he was disappointed. Accustomed to photographs looking a certain way, he thought he was viewing missed opportunities in the out-of-focus images, unrecognizable subject matter, and, of course, portraits of people with heads cut off.

But then Tony discovered that one young woman’s photographs of sidewalk cracks, which seemed a mistake, was actually intended to capture a source of inconvenience to her on campus. Leuwyanda’s white cane was continually getting stuck in the unlevel cracks, causing her difficulty. She wanted to document the problem for the superintendent. Suddenly, Tony began to see the photos in a new way.

“As soon as I understood the hidden meaning behind Leuwynda’s sidewalk pictures, everything looked different,” writes Tony. “All the images became unfamiliar, as if they were puzzle pieces that held a secret about how to see a much larger picture.”

The photography class soon became a mainstay of the school’s literacy curriculum, with students using their cameras to record information for school assignments, or as an outlet for self-expression.

Tony has compiled a number of the students’ photographs and narratives in Seeing Beyond Sight to share with sighted audiences the different ways blind youth perceive their world. In studying the photographs, readers must adjust their own perceptions to “see” in a new way. The book is a fascinating study of the different ways individuals perceive the world around them, and serves to remind readers how “sight can get in the way of seeing.”

[Neely Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could make one book required reading for all teens, it would be this one. The book is a collection of photographs taken by visually handicapped teenagers at the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, NC. The author, Tony Deifell, organized a five year photography course for a group of 38 students. The students are visually hindered on a three point scale, with the extreme being complete blindness. The group defined what they photographed as “sound shadows”. The book is a photo-journal of this transforming experience. The photographs, and the stories and quotes from the students themselves will change the way one perceives the world. The book is divided into five sections, and during a keynote speech for a “social entrepreneur” group, he posed questions to accompany each section of the book that help sum up some of the wonderings and musings teens might be left with after exposure to this tome. 1. distortion: What distorts the way you see? 2. refraction: What do you help others see? What fragments of the world do you mistake for the world? 3. reflection: How different is the mask you wear from who you really are? 4. transparence: Where does your heart remain cold? 5. Illuminance: How do we help each other see the cracks and piece the world back together?

[cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolutely intriguing book. well worth a look.

[Cedric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly enlightning. Read my review at Plop.

[Brian]

Found this on the street yesterday.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing book. A must for any YA/photography collection.

[Valarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting look at what parts of the visual world blind people find important.

[Lindsey Lawntea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting and touching look at how the blind "see" the world, worth a glance.