You are correct. I have only been totally blind for a few years. I still dream in full vision. I've been learning how to take pictures for about a year.
I was a sculptor. I lost my vision slowly. I adapted and got an MBA. Four years ago I left my job as a business consultant. I spent a while considering what to do next. First I was a martial arts instructor. Martial arts have been one of my methods of adaptation. That job made me realize that the senses could be pushed much further than I assumed. Now I am returning to art to apply what I learned from the last job. Vision takes up an enormous amount of nerve bundles in the brain. It is possible to rewire all of that to be of use to the other senses, as long as you have a understanding of the data coming in. Like a baby learning to see, sight is meaningless until the mind can grasp the information. I am working on learning how to translate the other senses to a minds eye view. enough background info, on to responding to your post. I would still have some interest in light if I was blind from birth: like a astronomer viewing objects in space using radio waves. I use sighted folks descriptions of my finished photos to confirm or disprove what I envisioned in my minds eye. The process of taking photos is an event for me not a product. Once the product has been manufactured I involve sighted people in the art process. Their descriptions of my finished photos help me sharpen my senses to go out and apply what I have learned. I avoid asking for any help in taking the actual picture because that would alter the photos by making them from a sighted perspective. I have learned to question my own assumptions and those of others. I focus on exploring the range of my senses. this makes what I am up to more conceptual art rather than photography. While trying to teach sighted fighters to spar blind folded I learned that sight masks the other senses. It is as if there is only a set amount of attention available. When sight is removed the other senses don't become stronger. The brain just has that area once used by sight available. actively attempting to rewire that area results in a better ability to translate the other senses to minds eye sight. I suspect the areas in my brain once used by sight would still show up as active if studied with medical devices: (as if sight was stimulated in a dream. Conceiving this particular photo involved stepping in from the warm sun into a cool bar. Sound gave a clear impression of the dimensions of the room. I could hear the people at the bar. So they were easy to track. I can track about 6-8peoples movements at once before I become a little overwhelmed. I like a complete range of black to white in most of my images so I went to the coolest area knowing that would be the darkest. There was no air conditioning running. Once in the back of the bar I listened for all of the window openings and doors to the out side. Knowing where the openings are allows me to know about the lighting. getting a drink was a good excuse to investigate the bar area by touch. I returned to my seat by a different rout to explore the area further. I moved to a lower seat to listen for the reflected sound bouncing off lower objects. the people were coming and going a little to quickly for what I thought was a pin hole shot. I am still blushing the borrowed camera was zone plate. I waited for some heavy drinkers to settle in at the bar. I setup slowly taking in as much information as I could. as I was told by a wise old Grandfather " anything worth doing is worth doing slow". using slow speed film gives me a wider range of reciprocity failure. It is more forgiving to errors in light estimation. Hopefully the above was of interest and answered your questions.. Pete P.S. In response to Andy's post-- If I drink to much I tend to forget to advance the film
