
{"id":1800,"date":"2008-02-07T07:08:28","date_gmt":"2008-02-07T15:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2008\/02\/07\/blind-photographer-sees-the-big-picture\/"},"modified":"2008-02-07T07:08:28","modified_gmt":"2008-02-07T15:08:28","slug":"blind-photographer-sees-the-big-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/02\/07\/blind-photographer-sees-the-big-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"Blind photographer sees the big picture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: bold\">By Eve Greene<\/span><br style=\"font-style: italic\" \/><span style=\"font-style: italic\">Carrboro Commons<\/span><br style=\"font-style: italic\" \/><span style=\"font-style: italic\">Photo Editor <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Georg Gordon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s personal goal is to photograph every home basketball game this season at Carrboro High School. This may not seem like a remarkably ambitious goal \u00e2\u20ac\u201d except that Gordon is legally blind.<\/p>\n<p>After multiple surgeries to correct developing macular holes, cataracts and the loss of pigment in his retinas, Gordon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impairment forced him to retire from his career as writer, photographer and editor. Fortunately, for the town of Carrboro, even the loss of his sight couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop him from doing what he loves.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Digital [photography] has saved my life,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Gordon. He knows the range of his camera and with help from the bold lines running the length of the court, he knows where to expect action.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Kirk Ross, editor of The Carrboro Citizen, for which Gordon freelances, said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the joy of auto-focus\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has kept Gordon in the field. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He really gets some great shots,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Ross.<\/p>\n<p>In August of last year, Gordon moved to Carrboro, to just down the street from Carrboro High School. Needing something to fill his free time, he began to attend the home basketball games and take pictures. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when The Carrboro Citizen entered the picture.<\/p>\n<p>Ross said Gordon just wanted to help, and offered his services to The Carrboro Citizen for free. When Gordon sent him some pictures in an email, Ross wrote, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was really happy to see someone interested in regularly documenting the teams\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 first seasons.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Journalism isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t about the money, Gordon explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When I have a kid come up to me, just totally overjoyed that his picture is in the paper, I mean, that just warms my heart.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Gordon has had to adapt as his eyesight continues to slip away. Using a magnifying glass, he can still edit pictures from his computer. Although he can take simple notes of jersey numbers, he often uses a tape recorder to keep more detailed records. Gordon is able to walk to and from the school for games, but parents and Ross often willingly offer rides when they see him along the road.<\/p>\n<p>After years of building his portfolio by writing and photographing as a freelancer \u00e2\u20ac\u201d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153with emphasis on the free,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Gordon with a smile \u00e2\u20ac\u201d he offered his services to a small newspaper in Thomasville, Ala., in 1996, beginning his third career. Born in Canada, Gordon was an office machine mechanic and an over-the-road truck driver before he was drawn to journalism.<\/p>\n<p>Soon, he was providing 90 percent of the material for the weekly newspaper. After four months, the editor left and Gordon was offered the vacant position. The Thomasville News quickly consumed Gordon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life.<\/p>\n<p>Gordon successfully ran the paper for more than nine years and became so involved that he was often forced to spend the night on a cot in the office. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My address where I was registered to vote was the newspaper office,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gordon chuckled.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the years he spent editing stories for the paper, he constantly sought out intriguing stories. He was once threatened with jail time for requesting public records and engaged in a political campaign, challenging the incumbent mayor.<\/p>\n<p>In competing with The Thomasville Times, the established paper in the area, Gordon proved his determination by covering not only Thomasville but the surrounding counties as well. When funding dried up within the town because of pressure from the mayor, The Thomasville News found advertisers from outside the town.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I knew nobody else was going to do what I could do,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Gordon of his paper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coverage of the broad area.<\/p>\n<p>Even now, with the chronic decline of his eyesight, Gordon continues to write for three newspapers in Alabama. He writes on anything and everything, remaining hard-hitting and dedicated to the improvement of the towns his articles reach. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A fellow newsman told me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gordon said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the duty of a newspaper man is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comforted.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Gordon says he is even using his journalism experience here to help those at home. He hopes to take his work back and prove to the state of Alabama that even blindness can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t keep him from his photography and reporting. Gordon will be using his pictures and articles to push for improvements in vocational rehabilitation programs.<\/p>\n<p>Ross wrote in an email, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never thought about the fact that a person with his knack and experience might through the aid of technology be able to continue doing what he loves doing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>When Gordon does return to Alabama in February, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just the pictures that the town will miss. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the khaki-vested gentleman moving along the baseline with his camera and press pass proving that he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be slowed down, even by blindness.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-style: italic\">Eve Greene is a UNC-CH student writing for the Carrboro Commons, the bi-weekly online lab newspaper for Carrboro produced by Jock Lauterer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Community Journalism class at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Eve GreeneCarrboro CommonsPhoto Editor Georg Gordon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s personal goal is to photograph every home basketball game this season at Carrboro High School. This may not seem like a remarkably ambitious goal \u00e2\u20ac\u201d except that Gordon is legally blind. After multiple surgeries to correct developing macular holes, cataracts and the loss of pigment in his retinas,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1800\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}