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The F-Stops Here
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What do the NBA, "Babylon 5," and the Grand Canyon have in common?
For Robert Wright, of Wright Images, each represents one more stop away from infinity. The infinity of countless badly focused and average looking pictures. Wright, who deems himself a "photographic researcher," is legally blind. A visit to his self-created website, www.wrightimages.org, shows no signs of such a limitation.
Gary Payton, Susan Anton, Weird Al Yankovich, and Meat Loaf mix links with aerial shots of the Grand Canyon, the Seattle nighttime skyline, Disneyland characters, and Chicago's Water Tower. All have been taken with a standard 35mm manual camera. All have available statistics for the right F-stop, shutter speed and film speed needed to replicate the same professional quality.
"Many people's impressions of the blind are that they can't do anything. There are many things that the visually disabled can do, some of which require very little help from the sighted community. Photography is one of them," Wright said in a recent interview.
Wright explained that by using exact numerical measurements on the camera and autofocus technology, anyone could literally recreate the exact environment necessary for a perfect shot. The photographer's "eye" becomes the mathematical lighting equation. "Vision isn't necessary if you have a great, in-focus picture," He said. He said those without sight usually think through "word pictures." They would simply need to take the picture and then have a sighted person describe the action or mood.
Wright, 45, has been working with 35mm cameras since the age of 19, using the infinity setting to conquer differences in focusing his pictures. With the onset of automatic focus, Wright was free to begin the laborious task of collecting endless F-stop and shutter speed combinations.
"It meant a lot of wasted rolls of film. Each roll of film gets me closer to any kind of standard. There are an infinite number of possibilities, with each one giving you different degree of exposure to the print. By doing the work, I am reducing infinity to a few select possibilities for everyone, not just the disabled," he commented.
Wright has enjoyed sponsorships from such companies as Pentax, Yashika, Canon and Nikon, as well as AGFA, Kodak, and Ilford, in order to pursue his goals. In turn, Yashika and AGFA have displayed his work at photography trade shows in Seattle, Las Vegas and New Orleans. His first autofocus camera, a Yashika 230 AF, came as an indirect result of his interest in computers. His computer tutor, Robert Simon, who then worked for Qualex, arranged for him to buy the camera at Dick's Camera in Burien in 1987.
Wright, who has taught photography workshops at Ballard High School, Lighthouse for the Blind, and Lighthouse Inc. in New York, originally planned on a career with business and computer technology. He earned his BA in Business Administration and Speech Communication from the University of Washington in 1995, a goal which required 22 years to accomplish. He then established a small business as a computer troubleshooter, but lack of funds prevented the effort. Instead, his early avocation towards photography at Olympic Community College took precedence.
"The teachers (at Olympic) would have preferred I dropped out," he said. Wright cited their concern over his ability to work with the chemicals in the darkroom, since his vision is even more limited at night. Wright said he has managed to overcome that barrier and pass the class. He has now taken on the challenge of night photography by taking fluorescent bags with his tripod to the area he plans to photograph during the day. He then leaves the fluorescent bags to mark the exact positions for the legs of his tripod, and returns at night.
"To my surprise, every so often I have a good shot," he said.
Wright's ambitions took him even further into researching aerial shots. He organized sponsorships with Pelican Helicopter out of San Francisco and Grand Canyon Air.
He said he hopes to find a Seattle flight school willing to sponsor his research locally.
Wright, an avid lover of travel, said he was able to coordinate a nine-city tour across the U.S. Amtrak and Hilton Hotels sponsored the event in exchange for his work. Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and Orlando, Florida were one small part of his itinerary. Six of his destinations appear on his web site. Wright said he hopes the photographs will inspire those are unable to travel.
Wright's long term goals may be to go where many have never gone before. Wright plans on working for Hollywood, eventually tackling the dynamics of digital camera and video, as well as the politics. A recent request to photograph the cast of "Star Trek: Voyager" was denied by the International Cinematographer's Guild when Wright didn't meet the requirements. The Guild requires 100 hours of paid photography work before aspiring photographers can be present on the set.
Wright said getting free-lance assignments has been difficult due mainly to transportation barriers. He has yet to find a work situation that meets both his and his employer's needs He said he hopes to get a waiver for the requirement.
"I don't know the full extent of what I will be. I have never been one to stop at anything. Other people don't know my potential. Many take the evaluations that have been made by others and don't try anything anymore. It is this mentality that I would like to change in their lives, in the lives of anybody with a disability," he said.
For Wright, the F-stops here. Hopefully others will follow his train of thought.
Reader Comments
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| Robert Wright | Sep 20, 2000 | Seattle, WA | Wright Images |
| The phrase "100 hours" should have actually read "100 days of paid employment". Also, Robert Wright did not have a tuter, named Bob Simon; instead, Robert Wright was the tutor for Rob Simon. Pelican Helicopter is based in the Grand Canyon area, not in San Francisco. Other than that, the article was pretty well done. | |||
| Anonymous | Sep 21, 2000 | ||
| The article was superb. You are and will do very well, congratulations. Judy | |||
| dani | Aug 26, 2003 | vermont | lol, no |
| I like the weird al yankovic picture, awesome! | |||
| dani | Aug 26, 2003 | vermont | LOL! yeah right |
| I like Weird Al Yankovic, That was a good picture of him! I'm downloading it, thanx! | |||
| Anonymous | Aug 26, 2003 | Townsville | . |
| Yankovic is spelled without an "H" at the end, thanks | |||
| Anonymous | Apr 30, 2004 | MSN | |
| hi,my name is Kirk Milbak,and I love weeeerd al, lol, brb.................I own all his LPs and cassettes...hahahahahlollololol neway g2g | |||
| Robert Wright | Mar 12, 2005 | Seattle, WA | Photographer |
| Concerning the article "The F-Stops Here", WWW.WrightImages.ORG now is WWW.WrightImages.COM and addresses all technologies that can improve the quality for a handicapped individual including photography. At present I am a DVD Screener for all of the major studios in Hollywood and hope to address the music industry in the near future in like manner. Since the time of this article WrightImages.Com is now recognized as a charity organization of which I still head and where I continue my original work in photography. Many who do visit this website praise it for the depth I have tried to incorporate into it. | |||
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