If you read any of my previous blogs, thanks by the way, then you know a while back I did an interview with a colour blind student. Well this one is going to blow the last one out of the water. That's right, I got myself an interview with an award-winning National Geographic photographer! I know, big stuff…
Geoff Scott-Simpson is a photographer based out of Malaga and won the award for European garden photography in 2019, but what most people don’t know is that he is colour-blind. When he was 15 years old he was diagnosed with severe tritanopia (blue/yellow colour blindness) after being presented with the colours blue and yellow in a sports medical.
Q1: What are some frustrations you have with the condition?
“Well I always see blue as a dark shade and I see yellow as pink”
Q2: Have you found any ways to work around your colour blindness?
“Yes, I have bought specialist glasses to help, but whether I’m seeing the right colours, who knows?”
Q3: Do you struggle with anything when taking photos?
“I do not see blue skies very well, and unfortunately I can’t alter what is already there, so I don’t know if I am taking a picture of the sky. That being said, on my computer I have a colour grid that defines the colour bandwide for both blue and yellow that I use to calibrate these colours. Otherwise I just leave them as they are, as I do not manipulate the colours of any of my images other than adding contrast up to 10%.”
Q4: Do you find people have a good understanding of your colour blindness and could you provide examples of when someone has misunderstood your condition?
“No, not at all, only close family and friends that are made aware of the condition. I used to work as a gemologist for 16 years and I was asked by a well known auction company on Bond Street, London to describe some expensive gemstones. As it so happens, they were naturally coloured yellow and blue diamonds and it became apparent that I could not see the colours. They weren’t too happy. School was also a big problem, as I had an art teacher who thought I was an idiot when he asked me to describe the painting, but the only idiot there was him, as he hadn’t worked out I was colour-blind. I was 11 or 12 at the time.”
Q5: How would you go about teaching a colour-blind person how to take photos?
“Look at composition and texture and form just the same as a normal sighted person.”
Q6: How do you manage with your interior decorating job?
“I do not choose yellow and blue, and I’m not that good with purple. I normally get my eldest daughter to process any image with yellow and blue colours.”
Q7: Do you wish you weren’t colour blind?
“Yes, but I don’t really know any different, I suppose.”
Q8: Do you think people with normal vision take their vision for granted?
“Absolutely”
Q9: Finally, can you comment on this image?
“Well the contrast levels are high and colours saturated naturally. I see a grey sky and green leaves of various shades throughout…. colour is going to be there whether I like it or not…. as I do not manipulate my files it's not an issue. I do a polarising filter quite a lot and this, for me, helps enormously in terms of colour saturation.”
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