In collaboration with renowned blind photographer Gary Williamson, Sony presents Through Their Lens, a special photo collection that shows how technological innovation can lower barriers and enable people with disabilities to fully utilize their creative talent. The collection was released for World Sight Day and invites the audience to see the world through Gary's eyes. This project specifically shows how technology and creativity make photography accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired.
Gary discovered his passion for photography and visual storytelling while studying art in 1989. A year later, at the age of 18, he suddenly lost his sight due to Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), a rare genetic eye disease.
He was only able to return to photography years later, when the first digital cameras came onto the market in the early 2000s. The larger screen of these cameras allowed him to view his photos again.
What started with holiday snapshots has grown over the past twenty years into Gary's signature style: compelling black and white photography. With his strong visual imagination and the support of accessible technology, Gary has become one of the leading blind and visually impaired photographers in the UK and Europe.
The Through Their Lens Collection shows Gary's unique perspective, shaped by his life with a visual impairment. Across ten images, he shows how he experiences the world.
“My story is not about what I have lost, but about what is still possible,” says Gary Williamson. “It's about inclusion, resilience and empowerment. With my photos I want to make people think, break down prejudices and create a deeper understanding of the many ways we can 'see'.”
“In everyday life, I constantly absorb the world through touch, sound, smell, taste and what little sight I have left. I use contrast to know where I am, for example the difference between the sidewalk and the yellow line along the road. That is why I often work in black and white: the contrast helps me to understand my image better and brings me back to the feeling of the moment I took the photo.”
“I want to make art that touches me, something that comes from my way of seeing and that feels like real art. I only keep photos that tell a story; I am not concerned with beautiful pictures, but with images that evoke emotions or leave questions.”
An accessible future for photography
Gary created his Through Their Lens collection with the Sony A7C II, which has several accessibility features. For example, the camera has a screen reader function that reads out menu items, which can be activated directly by pressing and holding the menu button. This camera also has an 'Enlarge Screen' function, which allows the text in the menu to be displayed up to 2.5 times larger.
Other features include Touch Tracking, which makes it easy to track a moving subject, and AI Subject Detection that automatically focuses on people, animals, birds and insects.
This camera also has a Focus Peaking function, a manual focus tool that marks the edges of the subject with a thin, colored line (white, red, blue or yellow). In addition, the tactile buttons help to easily distinguish between different controls.
Sony has been working for some time with blind and visually impaired people and organizations, including the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in the United Kingdom, to make products like the Alpha camera line more accessible.
Heading into World Sight Day, Robin Spinks, Head of Inclusive Design at RNIB, said: “The magnification feature of this device is a valuable innovation that makes photography more accessible to people with visual impairments. The improved screen reader reads out most of the menu text, which can also be enlarged.”
About Gary Williamson
Gary Williamson is a photographer from North West England. He is registered blind as a result of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), a disease of the optic nerve. At the age of eighteen, he lost his sight during a backpacking trip through Europe, but thanks to the advent of digital cameras, he regained his love for photography.
Gary's motto has always been: not looking at what is lost, but at what is still possible. His work offers a unique perspective shaped by his visual impairment, through which he hopes to break stereotypes and reframe “disability” as “another form of ability.”
More about his work can be found at www.swirlymagnolia.com and on Instagram via @swirly_magnolia.
