World Sight Day is a global event meant to draw attention to blindness and vision impairment. To mark the 2025 edition, Sony and Gary Williamson launch Through Their Lens photography collection, which intends to showcase how Gary’s unique way of seeing while being registered blind enhances his creativity and how creativity and technology can break down barriers for a more accessible future.
Gary Williamson is a photographer from North West England. He is registered blind due to Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), an optic nerve condition. Gary discovered a love of photography and storytelling through imagery during art college in 1989 but was unable to continue pursuing his passion the following year, after suddenly and unexpectedly losing his vision, whilst backpacking around Europe at 18 years old. Suddenly photography was no longer an option.
The first digital cameras introduced in the early 2000s, changed everything and made it possible for Gary to view the images he had taken on a larger screen, so he rediscovered his passion for photography and the ability to capture a story in one moment. His photography offers a unique perspective shaped by living with a visual impairment, through which he hopes to challenge stereotypes and reframe beliefs from disability to different ability.
“My narrative has always been not to look at what is lost, but what is possible. My story is about inclusion, resilience, and empowerment, and with my photography I hope to challenge stereotypes and create a deeper appreciation of all forms of sight,” Gary Williamson said.
“In life, I am constantly recording the world around me, whether through touch, sound, taste, smell or what sight I have. With my sight, I’m reliant on using the contrast between things, like the pavement and a double yellow line, to know where I am and where I need to be. That’s one of the reasons I often shoot in black and white, because the contrast allows me to see the shot better and it connects me to the feeling I got at the time when I took it.”
“I want to create art that pleases me, something that is from my eyesight and creates fine art. I only keep a shot if it creates a story, it isn’t about making something that’s pretty, it’s about leaving someone with a question or emotion.”
Other features include Focus Peaking, which assists manual focusing by highlighting the edges of the subject in the picture with a thin coloured line (which can be toggled between white, red, blue and yellow), and tactile controls make it easy to differentiate between buttons for easy operation.
Making the Alpha camera range more accessible for blind people
“Sony is deeply committed to making our products and experiences accessible, to be used and enjoyed by as many people as possible. It has been a pleasure to collaborate with Gary on this collection and to show how creativity and accessible technology can enrich people’s lives, such as the ability to capture and enjoy incredible photographs,” said Joe Clark-Jones, Accessibility Promotions Lead at Sony Europe.
While editing the information for this story, I came across two sources of material that improved the final content, which you can read here: one was the video (above) from photographer Thomas Heaton, titled “Doing Photography When Blind” which is a live lesson in street photography with Gary Williamson sharing his experience and vision. The second piece of information is from the website Lenscraft, which published an “Interview with a Blind Photographer”, that expands on the understanding of Gary Williamson’s photography.
If “a picture is worth a thousand words”, the images from Gary Williamson are a whole encyclopedia. His understanding of light, contrast and shape and how they all interact within a frame is a clear lesson of photography, coming from someone that had to relearn shooting photographs. The images published here are from the Through Their Lens collection published by Sony. One final note I deem important: Gary Williamson edits his own photographs, using an iPad. Read the interview to know more about this other aspect of his photographic work.
Follow the links to www.swirlymagnolia.com and @swirly_magnolia on Instagram
to see more of Gary Williamson photographic vision and work.