I'll put the TL;DR up front: I'm legally blind, even with glasses. $1.

I apologize in advance for the wall of text that follows, but I don't usually talk about my vision, and certainly not the struggles that come with it, so I'm not sure how much needs to be explained, even in a sub like this.

I've always felt a bit self conscious about being a legally blind guy with a camera. I know I shouldn't, but I do. I suppose it's a case of Imposter Syndrome. Sometimes, I look at my photography and feel like a fraud, because my camera captures images that are better than what I actually see. Other times, I feel frustrated by how much better my photography could be if I had decent vision. Most of the time though, I just enjoy photography, and that's what matters.

**My Vision:**

With glasses, vision in my better eye is 20/200. My other eye is closer to 20/250, maybe even 20/300. I have ocular albinism which includes nystagmus, astigmatism, pretty bad sensitivity to light, poor depth perception, and a partridge in a pear tree. It is what it is, and it's all I've ever known.

For the fully sighted folks who may read this post, here's what the number 20/200 means, at least in theory: If I can see something from a distance of 20 feet, you can see it clearly from 200 feet. I say "in theory" because vision is weird. Sometimes, I feel like I can see better than that number suggests. Other times, not even close. And sometimes I'm wrong about what I think I see.

**My Website:**

I bought the domain name $1 on a whim because it was available and I was feeling brave, but I don't explain what the name means anywhere on my site... so... so much for bravery.

I designed my site myself, including the logo (which is dead simple). I even wrote the code for my site by hand in a text editor. Old school! Web design is just a hobby though.

**My Photography:**

I'm a street photographer, but I don't take pictures of scenes or people. I capture details such as $1, $1, $1, etc, usually shot close up or zoomed way in, meaning that it's captured out of a broader context.

I make no attempt to have a style, and I'm not trying to prove anything. I just enjoy photography as a creative outlet.

**My Cameras:**

I own an Olympus Pen F and EM1, along with various M4/3 lenses.

Micro 4/3 cameras have a 2X crop factor. Without getting bogged down in a technical conversation about equivalence, let's just say a 50mm lens on M4/3 is like a 100mm lens on a full frame camera. Think of it like scaling down your monitor to make everything bigger.

Micro 4/3 cameras are mirrorless, which means they have electronic viewfinders. Electronic viewfinders can do things traditional camera viewfinders can't, such as digital zoom and digital magnifier. The purpose of the magnifier is to help check if a photo is in focus, but I use it more like binoculars, which isn't the purpose of the feature at all, but it helps me a lot. I have digital zoom and magnifier assigned to buttons on my cameras and I use them constantly.

For someone like me with poor vision, these things are a huge benefit since I always want a bigger, closer view.

**My Struggles:**

Focusing. Thank god for autofocus, because I can't do manual focus. Even with autofocus, I struggle.

Indicators. I shut off non-essential indicators and symbols in the viewfinder because I can't see them. I also shut off most of the info displayed on the camera's rear monitor because I can't see it well enough to use when I'm out shooting. And since street photography is what I do... I can't use indicators I can't see, so... eff 'em.

Exposure. Oof, I struggle, but bracketing helps. Bracketing is a feature where a camera takes identical shots in rapid fire, with some under-exposed, and some over-exposed.

Lines: I love shooting things like stripes & patterns on a grid. I have no idea why, but things like that appeal to me. I can't see well enough to get them lined up straight though. How do I do it? I'll take the same shot a bunch of times & find out if I got the shot when I see it on a real monitor at home. Olympus cameras do a great job of image stabilization, and that helps a lot.

Editing: I use Lightroom Classic. I like it, but I hate that I can't change the frigging text size for the UI. And of course, I struggle with seeing things well enough to know if my editing is any good, so there's that. Again, ah well. I'm doing the best I can with what I've got... but don't mistake any of what I just said for complacency. I'm always trying to improve.

**One More Thing, And It's A Biggie:**

I was inspired to write this post because I've been thinking about how my photography misrepresents what I'm able to see and what I'm not.

In summer 2020, I took a lot of pictures of Portland protests, and especially the federal response to the protests. That's not the kind of photography I normally do, but this is my home and it felt important to be there.

I didn't realize what I'd captured $1 until I got home and looked at it on a monitor. At the time, I only picked up my camera to zoom in so I could figure out why the guy ahead of me stopped and put his hands up.

In $1, I captured exactly what I wanted to, but the second line of police were too far away for me to see at the time, and they're an important part of the shot.

Sometimes, I'll look at a photo and think "Do I explain how I took $1" The answer is "No" since that photo isn't about me, but I can't help feeling awkward about the difference between what I see and what I capture with a camera.

In terms of my photography, the only thing that matters to me is the photo itself, but I can't help feeling a sense of inauthenticity when a photo misrepresents what I was truly able to see.

As an aside: I love using photography as inspiration for writing. Here's one of my favorite stories from the summer 2020 protests: *$1*.

**Closing thoughts:**

Photography is just a hobby for me, but I love it. Someday, I'd be thrilled to have a gallery showing of my work, but I'm nowhere near being good enough. And that's fine. I do this because I enjoy it.

I haven't decided whether to post this in r/photography. I'm a bit leery of where conversations about vision would go there. Sigh.

**P.S.**

If you have enough vision to use a camera and you have an interest in photography, I'd enthusiastically encourage you to give it a try. Creativity sets the mind free.