Craig Royal

Craig Royal is an award winning visually impaired fine art photographer / digital artist from the Tampa Bay area.  One of his photos was awarded the "Best in Show" at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts Members' Show recently.  We talked with him about his work and his experiences.

Reflection Abstract 80

Q:  One of your photos won the Best-in-show award at this year's FMoPA Members' Show.  Tell me about that photo.
 
A:  Reflection Abstract 80 is a photograph of reflections on rippling water. A slow shutter speed was used which allows the reflections to expand and take on
a 3D appearance. I was captivated by the various expressions of reflected light. The orange color are rocks lit by sunlight through the brown water. The
white ribbon like reflection is from the sky. The whirling cloud like reflection is from a pylon of a bridge. I see the water as a canvas. The reflections
as pigment and the wind as a brush. The ambiguity of the composition has an abstract expressionist quality. Ripples create the depth and sense of movement;
the wave theory in physics is being expressed visually. Metaphorically the water/canvas is consciousness. The ripples and light are form dancing on the
surface of consciousness or our perceived phenomenal reality. The water, like consciousness, is not directly perceived. It being the canvas which is painted
over or as the emptiness that holds form in suspension.

Q:  You mention: "Photography is more than a form of artistic expression but also a visual aide that allows me to revel in the exquisite detail that
surrounds us."  Did you know that photography would provide such an outlet for you, as a visual aide, when you first started?  Or was there another
impetus to motivate you in the beginning?
 
A:  I switched to photography because creating furniture and sculpture became so tedious and time consuming. It was no longer enjoyable. Photography liberated me from having to depend on my eyes to focus and letting an autofocus lens do the job and editing software to magnify the image. The immediacy was really gratifying too. To see and appreciate the detail of things that I would otherwise miss is a real gift.
 
Q:  Are there other visually impaired photographers from whom you learn or draw inspiration?
 
A:  There are a number of them that inspire me. Alex de Jong and Pete Eckert are two totally blind photographers that use other senses to define their surroundings in order to frame a shot. There is a great documentary film on blind photographers called Dark Light that you can find online and see how they approach photography.

Q:  I love this quote on your Facebook page: "If you have vision loss don't lose sight of the beauty of life. If you have lost sight of the beauty of life
you are truly blind."  Can you tell me more about that?
   
A:  We have other senses that can bring the beauty of life into our lives. Hearing, touch, smell, taste. There is even a transcendent, sublime beauty beyond the
senses that is found within your inner space which can enrich your life. Don't live in a dark world of despair. Drop your defenses and beauty will rush in.

Going With The Flow

Eclipsed

Q:  Do you have any personal favorite photos that you've made?  Why?
   
A:  I've had an interest in altered states of consciousness since high school. "Going With the Flow" and "Eclipsed" are both autobiographical. "Going with
the Flow" is a photo of a reflection on water. It reminds me of a  personal experience I had with a temporary mental illness in 1999. Due to work-related stress
I had not slept at at all for several days and my brain chemistry went wild. I had lost control of my mind and would be swept into a vortex of paranoia
and fear at one moment and then swept into a euphoric state the next. The expression of what appears to be an eye and mouth on the left captures
the dread of being caught in the current of mania. For me it creates the same visceral response  as Edvard Munch's "The Scream"; a loss of control. 

"Eclipsed" is a composite of two images, one of a lunar eclipse and the other a color-saturated cloud. This image is an attempt at expressing a
transcendent experience that occurred in 1985. I was experimenting with different meditation techniques when the experience happened. The image provoked
a poetic response: Form had fallen away; I see a shadow of a figure in freefall in the cloud. The mind became penumbral; the moon is a metaphor for the mind.
With the last fear of its death flaring (the mind is being eclipsed by something greater than itself), it succumbs to the Ecstatic Infinite. These two
images, when juxtaposed, illustrate the mind as a prison and the other as being liberated from the mind itself. I'm in awe of the mystery of what it is
to be human. Albert Einstein put it this way: "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." 
  
Q:  What are your short term and long term goals for your photography?
   
A:  Short term...get a better camera...but that really is a long term because there is always a better camera. I'm getting some work printed up
that will be on display at Great Art and Frame in Westchase.  Enter work in shows.  Do a solo show.  Long term?...I'm drawing a blank. I'm not a goal setter.
I'm more of the spontaneous type.