George A. Covington is former Special Assistant for Disability Policy (1989—93) to the Vice President of the United States. He is an attorney, a former journalism professor, an author, and a photographer. His book, Let Your Camera Do the Seeing: The World s First Photography Manual for the Legaly Blind, is free to all legally blind and physically disabled people through the Library of Congress National Library Service Division of the Blind and Physically Handicapped (cassette RC 17386). Covington lives in Alpine, Texas.

As a photographer who uses Macintosh computers and a digital desktop darkroom, George Covington may not seem any different from the scores of photographers, writers, and graphic artists who use Adobe software to create. However, most other people see to photograph. George photographs to see.

George Covington was born legally blind with 20/400 vision in both eyes. Because of a combination of astigmatism, nastag mus, eccentric fixation and myopia (all acute),his eyesight was not optically correctable. Over the years, what little vision George was born with deteriorated until his visual world became distorted as if he were seeing through heavily frosted glass during a sandstorm. Light penetrates the glass to produce fragmented blurry images that cloud, or gain clarity depending on the source, direction, and intensity of the light.

Extraordinary memory and indomitable spirit allowed George to develop, from a very young age, mobility skills and clever techniques that would allow him to function in a world designed for the sighted. Using a magnifier to read, George completed a Bachelor of Journalism degree, followed by a Juris Doctor, at the University in Texas in Austin. As his vision deteriorated even further during his college years, George discovered, quite by accident, that photography captured images that he could only see as "blurs", and transformed them into crisp sharp, detailed pictures that he could magnify, and study, in order to "see". He also discovered that threedimensional images are of ten confusing and difficult for him to identify. When they are photographed and turned into black and white prints, or computer generated sketches, the resulting two dimensional print presents him with a much fuller perspective of the person, or object he wanted to see.

When asked how this works, George responds: "A photograph is not reality, but an abstraction of the world as we normally see it. Even the most correctly developed conventional photograph is a high-contrast abstraction of the object it represents. A black-and-white print transforms the millions of colors, shades, hues and textures of reality to a few shades cf gray between black and white. Confusing three-dimensional shapes and forms are reduced to a small two dimensional representation. The black-and-white print allows a person with diminished vision to hold the world in his hands and view it in his own best perspective."

George now relies on both conventional and digital photography to provide him with a more realistic view of the world than his damaged eyes can allow. Digital photography has given him a much wider range of control than he had in a conventional darkroom.

Originally, he had the film commercially processed and printed, but this method was very limiting with regards to developing techniques that would allow a visually impaired photographer to see better. Commercially processed film and prints are all treated the same way, with no allowances for over or under exposure..

Digital photography, combined with the new and relatively inexpensive hardware and software available, allows people with visual impairments to create images calculated to help over come particular visual problems. The digital desktop darkroom is far less expensive, both for start-up and to maintain, than the conventional chemical darkroom. As its name implies, the only space needed is a desktop. George has set up a hon~ studio with three MACS: A Classic II, a Performa 6300, and a Performa 6230. The flrst is for word processing and data storage; the second for internet connection and web related technologies, and the third is for photo manipulation. All are equipped with zip drives.

As his vision continues to disintegrate, George has adapted photo manipulation in to sight enhancement techniques using computer software such as Adobe Photoshop. As his assistant, I manipulate the software settings and experiment with the various techniques available until we find the perfect setting for Georges vision. I then break down the steps needed to achieve the desired effect so that George may learn and apply them himself.

We have discovered that George sees peoples faces best when they are turned into "sketches" using Adobe Photoshop filters such as "find edges" and "sharpen edges" once the original photograph has been filtered into a "photocopy". These sketches literally allow George to see the highlights of a persons face. Generally, we print them out on plain typing paper and always present a copy to the subject of the portrait. The result is very "artistic"-many of the sketches look better than the original photograph, and most people prefer them to conventional prints. George loves to do photographic "studies" of "real cowboys", and "siblings", and has shot hundreds of portraits of Alpine citizens. As George often points out, his goal is to "make sketches of everyone in Alpine".

George moved to Alpine after a career in Washington as Special Assistant to the Vice President, and following a two year stint in Manhattan during which he co-authored a book and worked on a PBS Special. While portraits are still the central focus of his work, he has begun to photograph the pristine Big Bend wilderness, and we are currently developing techniques to render landscapes as sketches that George can see. The techniques we use on portraits fail to produce the clarity we seek when applied to desert landscapes. Millions of tiny stones and rocks "clutter" the manipulated image. when edges are sharpened or the image is transformed with a photocopy filter. So far, a landscape works best as a duotone image with added texture.

Dynamic as always, George is currently developing a project to create a small, portable, digital desktop photography studio that can travel through the region to offer digital photography workshops to children living in the area. The project will be offered under the auspices of the Museum of the Big Bend of Sul Ross State University, and will be conducted by volunteer staff. Each workshop will focus on the history and culture of the town where the workshop is taught The free workshops would allow our children to learn about their rich cultural heritage while developing social, artistic, and computer skills.

George Covington brings an exceptional generosity of spirit and enthusiasm for life to our remote desert region. For a man who "does not see",George "sees" better than most, and we are fortunate to have one of such vision among us.

Nicola Mulholland has a BA in English from the University of Ottawa, Canada and a MA in Dramatic Art from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Nicola is a lecturer in the Fine Arts and Communication Department at Sul Ross State University.

FROM: The Desert Candle, Summer 1999

The Art of Seeing: History, Culture and Digital Photography

By George A. Covington

As a photographer who uses a Mac platform and a digital desktop darkroom, I may not seem any different from the scores of photographers, writers, and graphic artists who use Macintosh and Adobe products to create. However, most other people see to photograph. I photograph to see.

I was born legally blind with 20/ 400 vision in both eyes. Because of a combination of astigmatism, nastagmus, eccentric fixation and myopia (all acute), my eyesight was not optically correctable. Although born legally blind, I was completely mobile and could read most print by holding the reading materiel close to my eyes. The year between journalism and law school, I noticed that street lights appeared blue through one eye, and purple through my other. The diagnosis was an unknown form of retinal degeneration. In the year following the diagnosis, my vision began to diminish so slowly that I was unaware of the precious sight I was losing. I was 27 at the time and in the middle of law studies at the University of Texas. I began to have to use a magnifier to read, but didnt understand that I had stopped seeing around me until I saw a black and white photograph of familiar scenery. The sharp contrasts of the photograph made me realize that I had stopped seeing things as they are and begun to imagine them. By the same token, I discovered that conventional photography allowed me to see a world of images that were literally fading before my eyes.

"How?" is most peoples first reaction. The answer is simple. A photograph is not reality, but an abstraction of reality. Even the most correctly developed conventional photograph is a high-contrast abstraction of the object it represents. A black-and-white print transforms the millions of colors, shades, hues and textures of reality to a few shades of gray between black and white. Confusing three- dimensional

In recent years, I have photographed using both conventional and digital photography, both in black and white and in color. While many people love the bright colors available through modern printing techniques, I prefer that my work, mostly portraits, be in either black and white or sepia. Most people I know prefer the kinder sepia for their portraits. This technique is easy to achieve by manipulating digital images with my digital desktop darkroom.

Digital photography has given me a much wider range of control than I had in my conventional dark room. For a while, I had the film commercially processed and printed, but this did not give me the control I wanted. Commercially processed film and prints are all treated the same way, with no allowances for over- or under-exposure.

Digital photography, combined with the new and relatively inexpensive hardware and software available, allows people with visual impairments to create images calculated to help overcome particular visual problems. The digital desktop darkroom is far less expensive, both for start-up and to maintain, than the conventional chemical darkroom. As its name implies, the only space needed is a desktop. I have set up a home studio with three Macs: a Classic II, a Performa 6300, and a Performa 6230. The first is for word processing and data storage; the second for Internet connection and Web related technologies, and the third is for photo manipulation. All are equipped with zip drives.

As my vision continues to disintegrate, I have turned most of my portraits into sketches, using Adobe Photoshop 4.0. These sketches literally allow me to see the highlights of a persons face. Generally, I print them out on plain typing paper (on my Epson Stylus Photo 700), and always present a copy to my subject. I have discovered that most people prefer them to conventional prints. For other projects, I use Adobe Photodeluxe 1.0 and 2.0. Digital photography literally allows me to make the large small enough to see and the small large enough to see. Software gives me the kind of control that was almost impossible with conventional photography.

To create my sketches, I first turn a color image into a grayscale, then sharpen the edges, and then find a tool that will create the image as a sketch. There are a variety of avenues that can be pursued, but I always prefer the simplest. Turning an image into a sketch maximizes my 5 percent of vision.

Images produced with either a digital camera (I use a Yashica 600) or a scanned image (on my Apple Color One scanner 600/27) can be manipulated to maximum advantage with a few keystrokes. Optimum perspective and detail can be created by controlling the resolution and contrast of the manipulated image. I use a 15x magnifying lens on the screen of my monitor to see the commands I want to control. Depending on the image, I may begin by sizing the image, and controlling its contrast to give me an idea of my final product. I can then choose whether or not to isolate that portion of the image I am most interested in. I can cut out a cluttered and confusing background and enlarge only the key element. I will not truly seer the image until I hive printed it out. This first printout is like a working print from a conventional darkroom. It tells me the direction I need to go to get the maximum amount of information from my image. By learning the wide range of possibilities that are available by combining software filters and effects, I know from the first print which manipulations will lead to my final image.

A year ago I moved to the mountainous high desert country of West Texas. While I continue to shoot portraits almost daily, I have included the beauty and grandeur of the Big Bend country in my work. The blurs of mountains and mesas become visible in my prints when I observe them through a 15x magnifying lens and a great deal of light. Without photography, this magnificent landscape would look like a Monet painting. I prefer the sharp clarity that is a little closer to reality.

I am currently developing a project to create a small, portable, digital desktop photography studio that can travel to remote towns throughout far West Texas. The studio will be a basis for workshops offered free to children living in this economically disadvantaged rural area. This region, referred to as: "The Big Bend," and the "Last Frontier," is large, harsh, and sparsely settled. The largest county is the size of Connecticut and half of Rhode Island, but has a population of only 9600.

Although Sul Ross State University in Alpine is a Hispanic Serving institution, few programs have been developed to allow the regions children to appreciate their rich cultural

Each workshop will focus on the history and culture of the town where the workshop is taught. In Terlingua, the workshop will be held in the historic Ghost Town. In Presidio, in the Spanish Fort; in Fort Davis, at the Civil War Fort; in Marfa, on the grounds of the Chinati Foundation; and in Alpine at the Museum of the Big Bend.

Each workshop will be recorded on digital video and edited into a 15 minute documentary that will be dubbed onto a standard VHS cassette and presented to schools in the region. These 15 minute features will also be condensed into 2 minute news clips that could be shown on commercial and public television throughout the state.

Being able to see through computer manipulations and then helping others to see that world around them in a new way, is the result of my experience experimenting with digital photography.

From: Washington Apple Pi Journal July/August 1999

 Faces I See: Digital Photography, A Tool
 for Sight   By George A. Covington 


SOMETIMES A PICTURE IS WORTH
MORE THAN A THOUSAND
WORDS--ESPECIALLY WHEN
IT'S TAKEN BY SOMEONE WITH
DIMINISHED VISION. SOMEONE
WHO IS LEGALLY BLIND.
THROUGH THE CAMERAS EYE.
THE PHOTOGRAPHER "SEES."  AND
WITH DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY.
HIS IMAGINATION COMES ALIVE              
IN HIS PHOTOS.

        Harry Carpenter is the 
      oldest realtor in Alpine,
      Texas, a town of 5,600 residents.

Almost 25 years ago, I began an odyssey with the statement: "Most people see to photograph; I photograph to see." The odyssey began the day I looked at four small photographs and realized I had stopped seeing the world around me. The four photographs represented a days shooting by a friend. For hours I had helped her carry 60 pounds of heavy, antiquated equipment to these four sites. I stood by while she set the ancient 4x5 wooden camera on an even more ancient tripod. I walked around the sites for more than an hour each. I "saw" what she was photographing. Later that day, I held her photographs in my hand and realized I did not recognize any of the scenes. What I had "seen" was strictly in my mind.

I was born legally blind with 20/400 vision in both eyes. Because of a combination of astigmatism, nastagmus, eccentric fixation and myopia (all acute), my eyesight was not optically correctable. Although born legally blind, I was completely mobile and could read most print by holding the reading material close to my eyes. The year between journalism and law school, I noticed that street lights appeared blue through one eye, and purple through my other. The diagnosis was an unknown form of retinal degeneration. In the year following the diagnosis, my vision began to diminish so slowly that I was unaware of the
precious sight I was losing. I was 27 at the time and in the middle of law studies at the University of Texas. I began to have to use a magnifier to read, but didn't realize what I had stopped seeing around me.

FACES IN THE MIRROR

The day I held those four photographs in my hand. I discovered that photography allowed me to keep open this priceless channel of perceptive communication. The first year I experimented almost daily with the camera. At this point, the full impact of the use of photography with diminished vision hit me: I had stopped seeing faces and begun to imagine them. One of my first experiments was self portraits. It was startling to look at a self portrait and realize I had stopped seeing myself in a mirror. It was equally disturbing to realize I had stopped seeing the faces of my friends. I discovered that old friends had familiar faces, while new friends sometimes did not look anything like I thought they did. The friends I knew before my retina problem looked like themselves because I remembered what they looked like. Friendships made after the slow degeneration process began had faces created by imagination. I began to wonder how many other people, whose vision had slowly deteriorated, did not realize they had stopped seeing the faces of their friends and loved ones. If I had not discovered photography as a tool for seeing. I would have spent the rest of my life in a world of "blurs." Photography allows me to see what I otherwise could not see.

Al Hirschfeld, famed New New York Times caricaturist, at ease at dinner and in abstract.

"How?" is most people s first reaction. The answer is simple. A photograph is not reality, but an abstraction of reality. Even the most correctly developed conventional photograph is a high-contrast abstraction of the object it represents. A black-and-white print transforms the millions of colors, shades, hues and textures of reality to a few shades of gray between black and white. Confusing three-dimensional shapes and forms are reduced to a small two-dimensional representation. The black-and-white print allows a person with diminished vision to hold the world in his hands and view it in his own best perspective.

In recent years, I have photographed both conventional and digital photography. I have photographed both in black and white and in color. While many people love the bright colors available through modem printing techniques, I prefer that my work, mostly portraits, be in either black and white or sepia. Most people I know prefer the kinder sepia for their portraits. This technique is easy to achieve by manipulating digital images with my digital desktop darkroom.

Digital photography has given me a much wider range of control than I had in my conventional darkroom. For a while, I had the film commercially processed and printed, but this did not give me the control I wanted. Commercially processed film and prints are all treated the same way, with no allowances for over or under exposure.

Digital photography, combined with the new and relatively inexpensive hardware and software available, allows people with visual impairments to create images calculated to help overcome their particular visual problems. The digital desktop darkroom is far less expensive, both for start-up and to maintain, than the convention chemical darkroom. As its name implies, the only space needed is a desktop. Many of the software programs can be easily learned by children in elementary school. The digital images allow them to capture their culture, be it Houston or Harlem, and manipulate it into visual images that they can see, understand, and explain as part of their classroom work. It can allow visually impaired individuals to see the faces of their parents and peers that would otherwise he a blur. And it affords an avenue of social interaction that might otherwise not exist for the student.

Despite the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, too many people with disabilities still dwell outside the mainstream. The U.S. Department of Education's Disability Statistics Abstract (May1998) states: "People with disabilities continue to live in relative social isolation." Photography allows an "excuse" for visually impaired and other disabled students to interact with their peers and their community.

Several years ago, I taught two photography workshops at the Harlem Independent Living Center in New York City. We spent several hours walking around Harlem, allowing the students to photograph anything they pleased. We used conventional disposable cameras, and the instruction was minimal. James Billy, the center s executive director, told me he had never seen such interaction between the students and the community. The photographs we got back covered a myriad of aspects of community life, from portraits of people to shots of architecture. The cameras seemed to give the students a sense of confidence, and even purpose, in their interaction with individuals they met on the street. The cameras broke down the stereotypes, myths. and negative images associated with disability, in the minds of both the student and the Harlem community.

I have used the concept of "blind photographer" to correct the media s image of what a "blind" person is. Most people don t realize that 90 percent of we who are legally blind have some usable vision. I have often said of my work with the media: "I intrigue them, then I educate them." I have always made two copies of every person's face I have ever photographed. I keep one as a record, and the second I give to the person in the photograph. This method will guarantee the student photographer continued social interaction with his or her peers.

The real Dr. Patch Adams, in clown hat.

PERSPECTIVE & DETAIL

The student can quickly be taught that the key to "seeing" is the manipulation of perspective and detail. The most important aspect of reducing a scene or object to a manipulated image is that it allows the visually impaired person to have total control over both detail and perspective. There are two aspects involved in controlling these elements:

First, a manipulated image allows persons with diminished vision to view the scene or object represented by the photograph in the best light and at a distance from their eyes that compensates for their particular problem. While many require a great deal of light for best results, others might have a vision problem that requires them to see the light coming through the back of the print. A photograph allows the control of detail by permitting the individual with diminished vision to get close enough to breathe on the subject represented and use a magnifying device if necessary. By using software such as Adobe Photodeluxe or the more advanced Photoshop, a student can experiment with filters and effects that will give the maximum amount of information from the original image.

As my vision continues to disintegrate. I have turned most of my portraits into sketches. These sketches literally allow me to see the highlights of a person's face. Generally, I print them out on plain typing paper, and I have discovered that most people prefer them to conventional prints.

Secondly, the image allows the visually impaired individual to see both detail and perspective at the same time. If a person were to try to move close enough to a subject, for instance, to see detail, he or she would see only a few inches in any direction. Thus, over-all perspective would be lost. If the viewer backed away far enough to have an over-all perspective, he or she would lose detail, which is necessary for overall perspective. Because of my diminished vision, if I see the tree, I can't see the forest: and if I see the forest. I can't see the tree. Digital photography literally allows me to make the large small enough to see and the small large enough to see. Software gives me the kind of control that was almost impossible with conventional photography.

DIGITAL ARTISTRY

To create my sketches. I first turn a color image into a grayscale, then sharpen the edges, and then find a tool that will create the image as a sketch. There are a variety of avenues that can be pursued, but I always prefer the simplest. Turning an image into a sketch maximizes my 5 percent of vision. This should not be a prescription, since each individual must find his or her own "best image" by experimentation.

Images produced with either a digital camera or a scanned image can be manipulated to maximum advantage with a few keystrokes. Instead of hours in a chemical darkroom. the digital desktop darkroom can allow the student to control the image in a few strokes of the keyboard and a few clicks of the mouse. Optimum perspective and detail can he created by controlling the resolution and contrast of the manipulated image. I use a I 5x magnifying lens on the screen of my monitor to see the commands I want to control. Depending on the image. I may begin by sizing the image and controlling its contrast to give me an idea of my final product. I can then choose whether or not to isolate that portion of the image I am most interested in. I can cut out a cluttered and confusing background and enlarge only the key element. I will not truly "see" the image until I have printed it out. This first printout is like a working print from a conventional darkroom. It tells me the direction I need to go to get the maximum amount of information from my image. By learning the wide range of possibilities that are available by combining software filters and effects. I know from the first print which manipulations will lead to my final image.

It is important that instructors give up their preconceived notions of what students "see." The students must decide what is best for them. Over the years, I have worked with hundreds of people with impaired vision, with many different eye problems. I have discovered that photography is the great equalizer. Many sighted people find it difficult to understand that all people with visual impairments do not see alike. Measurements such as 20/20, 20/100, or 20/200 simply tell a doctor that yon can see to read a certain line on an eye chart. The measurements do not take into account a person s intellect, education, experience, or perceptions. If two people with 20/200 vision look at a painting by Monet, their background, and not their eyesight, will tell them what they see.

The key to my ability to interpret visual images is perception. I can walk into a room for the first time and see almost nothing. As I learn the contents of the room, my brain interprets what I perceive as a visual image. When I have become familiar with that room, I can describe every object in it and its placement. I actually ‘see" the contents of that room by interpreting small bits of information that upon first entry were totally confusing. My malfunctioning eyes are augmented by memory, imagination, and experience. I interpret as much as I actually see, and photography helps speed up and improve the interpretation.

Photography can allow a student to crystallize time and space and hold it in her hands. The camera has become the diary of the 20th Century, and each photograph is a page in that diary. Like a visual time machine, a student can follow a loved one from birth to death and hold in his hands precious moments forever frozen in crystal. Moments felt but unseen without photography.

James Billy is executive director of the Harlem (NY) Independent Living Center, where George Covington taught a photography workshop for visually imparied and other disabled students.

REFLECTIONS ON THE LENS

My work is highly personal. I do not photograph to communicate to others, but to see. However, many people seem to enjoy my portraits, finding in them more than a record. Any communication between the subject and the viewer was intended for me, and I gladly share it. Although I can't see them, I feel there are moments that exist that I want to capture: a gesture, a motion, or simply a look of castigation that I felt was there, and I want to see it. I felt it, and I look on my screen, and I hope it is there. I am constantly amazed how often it appears.

I discovered long ago that time adds a dimension to the "snap shot" that defies comprehension at the time of the exposure, a dimension so precious that it cannot he conceived of until it is lost. No one has ever measured the price of lost moments. A year ago I moved to the mountainous high desert country of West Texas. While I continue to shoot portraits almost daily, I have included the beauty and grandeur of my surrounding country in my work. The blurs of mountains and mesas become visible in my prints when I serve them through a I5x magnifying lens and a great deal of light. Without photograph, this magnificent landscape would look like a Monet painting. I prefer the sharp clarity that is a little closer to reality.

Today. I would sum up my work by saying that digital photography allows me to capture and manipulate a world I otherwise could not see. My wish is that the many others--including students-- who are visually impaired in some way will "see" through their own photography. Because I know that as long as I can see to photograph, I'll never be blind.

From: TECHNOS, VOL. 8, NO. 2 -- SUMMER 1999

To find out more about George Covington and see his photos, click here.

Or, send him a message at gcovington@mac.com

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Contact: George Bradley
Address: Fine Arts Building, Room 203A, Ph. 432/837-8221
Update: December 1, 2003