Seeing through the lens

“I have been associated with Bhowmick for over six years now and have been a part of both the visioned and the blind world. I knew how a camera worked,but for a blind person to handle one was a different experience altogether,” says Pamnani.

She feels the art has made her more aware of her surroundings. Even with her disability,Pamnani says she now looks at her subject through other senses. “I pay more attention to my surroundings; I feel,touch,converse with my subject to understand the mood of the picture better,” she says.

Like her,over 100 students across the city have learnt from Bhowmick. It all started with an article that Bhowmick read in an old magazine. The article on Evgen Bavcar,a blind photographer in Paris,started it all. He started Blind with Camera,which helps the visually impaired understand and learn photography. “I have conducted several workshops across the city. I have also held workshops for sighted photographers on how to train the visually impaired people,” he says.

Last year,Bhowmick launched an online photography course for the blind,which was later shortlisted for Nasscom’s Social Innovation Honours,2011.

His initiative has proved to be a means to reconnect with the visual world,says Mahesh Umrannia,who lost his vision when he was nine and has been disconnected from the visual world ever since. He feels photography made him think and feel the world in a new way altogether. “I have reinvented my connection with the world though photography,” says Umrannia,an artiste who plays sitar and has a diploma degree in Indian classical music from Mumbai University.