Follow the blind

The blind can lead the blind—even to climb up a 60-foot tree—as long as there are no expectations put upon them that they cannot. That was the lesson from a This American Life episode that aired in January. Pete Eckert, a Sacramento photographer who happens to be blind, has been defying expectations for years with his painting-by-light shots, exhibiting them in fine-art galleries and even doing commercial work—Playboy and Swarovski jewelry, to name a couple. But in the dusk of the recent social-media meme and accompanying debate over a blue-and-black dress being perceived as white and gold, it's a little easier to understand how seemingly “normal” sighted people can perceive the same thing differently. The mere act of a blind person taking photographs may be enough to challenge some sighted folks' perception, but just because Eckert can't “see,” it doesn't mean he doesn't know what he's doing when he's creating an image.