[Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] photography

[Lisa Yayla]

Andover Townsman, MA, USA
Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Documenting downtown: Photographer sees Andover through his own lens

Being legally blind hasn't stopped Frank LaVallo from being a photographer. It also hasn't stopped the born and bred Lawrencian from seeing something special in downtown Andover.

For years, LaVallo has taken photographs of downtown Andover, in effect documenting the changes inside and outside the business district. While he says he would never leave Lawrence, he could serve as a press agent for Andover's downtown area.

"I just love being in Andover. I love to look at them [his photos], especially in the dead of winter when I'm not on the streets. I find a lot of people from Lawrence come here. It's another world. It's their escape, I'll put it that way," he said. "I like having them to look at because it's like being in Andover when I can't get to Andover for one reason or another."

Because of his vision problems, LaVallo is only able to see his photos - and the subjects of his photography - with difficulty, he said.

"My vision is worse now then when I started taking the pictures. I go be composition more than anything else. I can see mass, I can see trees," he said. "I cross my fingers and sometimes they come out.

"[People ask,] why do I take these photos if I'm not going to be able to see them afterward? But as long as I have some sight, it's difficult to turn it off like a light switch," he said.

Years ago, LaVallo took numerous pictures of Boston buildings and discussed publishing them in a book, he said. He remembers going into the former Thompson's stationary store on Andover's Main Street, looking for a photo album. He met Nancy Landry there, she took an interest in his photos and the two became friends.

"When her husband died, she went back to Cincinnati to be with her family," said LaVallo. "We've had a friendship that goes back 20 years. She's remarried now and we still write, we still communicate."

It's people like Landry, along with the actual businesses themselves, that make the downtown special, according to LaVallo.

"There seems to be a perception out of town that people [in Andover] are snooty. I don't know where that comes from," said LaVallo, who has an uncle and aunt who live downtown at the corner of Punchard and Main streets. "That hasn't been my experience anyway."

He figures many people will get a kick out of seeing some of the businesses that are no longer in town. Perhaps some fond memories will be stirred.

"It's not a matter of living in the past, it's just that I have them. I look at them because - when I like a place, when I'm happy in a place, it gives me a sense of serenity - and I know that's mushy but that's how I feel about Andover. I like to hold onto it," he said. "I guess you could say it's a love affair with the town."

LaVallo does not know how long he will be able to see as well as he does currently.

"I can see the difference even in the last seven, eight months. It's a macular degeneration condition. I've been legally blind since 1977," he said.

"People think if you're legally blind, you're legally blind. But there are parameters," he said. "I don't know how much more my vision will deteriorate."

But he still enjoys being in town and looking at his pictures. He notes that some of the downtown shops - Royal Jewelers and Kaps, for instance - used to be in Lawrence.

"People always talk about the heyday of Lawrence, but it's gone," said LaVallo, glancing at some of his Andover pictures. "And some of these are gone, too.

"But the nice thing about Andover is new businesses come in to fill the gap."

          

http://www.andovertownsman.com/townspeople/local_story_290155052.html?keyword=secondarystory




article


Express India
Sunday, October 21, 2007

Developing in a Darkroom

By EXPRESS FEATURES SERVICE

Updated: Saturday , October 20, 2007 at 11:31:12

A red leather chair is pushed into a corner and a bay window next to it paints the centre of the room in crispy sunlight, the dim-lit corner gently contrasted against the bustling life on the other side of the wall. This photograph and 27 other visually eloquent frames are showcased at the exhibition "Beyond Sight". What is even more remarkable about them is that they are taken by nine visually impaired photographers. 

The show, which opened this week at the Palm Court Gallery at the India Habitat Centre, is on till today. Organised by Partho Bhowmick, 39, an IT manager and photographer, some pictures carry Braille notes. "The Tate Gallery in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York offer such facilities. It is time we had them," he says. 

Before teaching photography to the blind, Bhowmick exchanged e-mails with the blind Parisan photographer Evgen Bavcar. At his workshop, the participants were taught in Braille and through audio descriptions. 

"I was asked to photograph visually impaired children playing in a room. I used sound to base my judgment and my heart to capture the silence," says Rahul Shirsat, one of the photographers. The Victoria Memorial School for the Blind in Mumbai extended their help and Kodak sponsored the single-point cameras and prints. 

"These pictures are a reflection of their experience of reality. Blind photography is new in India but very popular internationally," says Bhowmick, referring to the annual blind photo competition in Japan and the Sense and Sensuality show of the UK that displays artistic frames by blind photographers. "Beyond Sight" will travel to Kolkata by yearend and then to Vadodara and Pune. 


http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Developing-in-a-Darkroom/230565/