The King in our minds' eyes

Jirawat Pornputtimethee, 11, has been visually impaired since birth and has never imagined being able to hold a camera, never mind take a picture. Yet today, his photo is being showcased along with those of other visually impaired youngsters in the very special exhibition “84 Photos Taken by Heart for the King”.

The 84 pictures were taken by blind youths from across the country to pay tribute to His Majesty the King in celebration of his seventh cycle anniversary. The show, which is hosted by Canon Marketing (Thailand), opened last Tuesday at TK Park.

It’s part of “Teaching Photography to the Blind 2011”, an initiative of Canon and Pic4all, a group of volunteer photographers who have trained 60 visually impaired students in basic photography. The children are from six schools: Santichintasana School for the Blind in Phrae; Thammik Wittaya School for the Blind in Phetchaburi; Northern School for the Blind under the Royal Patronage of Her Majesty the Queen; Non-Formal Education School in Nong Khai; the School for the Blind and Disabled in Lop Buri, and the Redeemer School for the Blind under the Royal Patronage of Her Majesty the Queen in Pattaya. 

“We believe that the visually impaired can do anything if they are educated in the right way, even photography, which seems impossible for them. The exhibition is a testament to the power of faith in their own potential as well as their inspiration,” says Rojanan Permchareon, Canon’s assistant director for corporate affairs. 

“If the blind can take such photographs, everything in the world is achievable,” says Phoowapong Pachon-Aripai from Pic4all. He points out that his volunteers could only teach just 10 students at a time, but those children went on to teach their friends.

“We started by asking them to hold the camera, letting them feel that the top edge was close to their eyebrows,” says Phoowapong. “In fact, we learned this technique from a blind boy in our first batch. He told us that he became blind when he was eight years old, so he has some images in his memories and he remembers his eyebrows as straight lines. Using this technique, the kids never came up with any sloping pictures.” 

Before taking any pictures, the youngsters asked for permission to touch the person or the objects first. “For a portrait picture, the sense of touch allows them to learn if that person is tall or short, fat or slim, so that they can measure how many steps they will need to walk backward and to what degree they will need to hold the camera up or down,” says Phoowapong. 

“Amazingly, within half an hour, all the children could take quite good pictures. So we taught them more advanced technique like taking macro pictures, which they could also do quite well,” he adds. “What we all learned from this project is the beautiful spirit of these kids. When they were taking pictures, they were really concentrated and calm.

Naowarat Kanti, a teacher at Redeemer School, says teaching the blind about photography was a new experience. “I’m so proud of the results. I bet even sighted people wouldn’t take as good photos as our kids,” she says.

Wiparat Jaisean, 16, says her photo, visualises His Majesty’s sustainable philosophy by saving money in a piggy bank. 

Metawee Kunpol-iam, 18, is completely blind. She once asked her family if she could take their picture but says it was a disaster. Her photograph for the exhibition represents the thoughtful teaching of His Majesty about conserving local wisdom.

 

Sight lines

_ The exhibition runs until Saturday at TK Park on the eighth floor of CentralWorld. It’s open daily except Mondays.

_ The pictures are captioned in Thai and English as well as in Braille.

_ Postcards of the 84 photosare on sale for Bt100 with proceeds will go to the schools participating in “Teaching Photography to the Blind”.