John Dugdale is one of those photographers who went through a tragedy of life and still came out successful due to his will power to continue his work. Dugdale suffered a stroke at the age 33 that left him almost fully blind, which led to being fully blind. Through this tragedy he became more and more successful learning old techniques of photography. He is most famous for his cyanotypes.
One of his cyanotypes that specifically stood out to me was this one below:
I like this cyanotype and that he chose to do a cyanotype with this photograph because it seems like a rather "blue" empty, emotional photo. I think choosing to take this photo a create a cyanotype fits what Dugdale was trying to express through this photo. The person in the photo seems to be in water looking out to the distance. It is so blue it almost seems like he is stuck in this pool filled of nothingness. The blues of the cyanotype and the depressed, emptiness of the photo really come together and make this stand out in my opinion.
Another one of his photos that really stood out to me was this one below:
I like this one because it also fits the theme of cyanotypes. As we can see this is of a man who is also nude. There are flowers on the table and they seem to be dying. The man Is seen with his head down and hands on the table as he is being covered with the dead petals. This photograph stood out to me because it really seems to capture a moment in time. Dugdale really made it look like this man has been in this position for years, like he never moved. I really enjoy this from this cyanotype. I think again, as the one above, the blues really give off a sense of a depressed and empty emotion.
Although these two photos really stood out to me, I checked some of his other work and I do not really fancy it. I just do not think his work is that great in a sense of others I have seen and it is just not my taste. Even with this thought I think that it is absolutely crazy and amazing that he is fully blind and can shoot and capture and create these beautiful photos and cyanotypes.
-Bronwen Lewis
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