When I explain that I don’t perceive colours, that I have never seen colours, I’m usually met with a mix of curiosity and dismay. The curiosity is understandable, as complete colour-blindness is so rare, but I’ve always found the dismay somewhat harder to grasp. I’m often left feeling that my gaze is incomplete, that my view of the world is missing some vital element. Perhaps this was your first thought as well. So allow me to pose a question: as you look about your colour-drenched world, what are your eyes missing?

Trying to explain the quality of my sight can be a fraught experience. I usually begin with the most obvious difference, the one that fascinates all of you colour-sighted folks. So, if you’ll indulge me, picture a black and white television program. Most of us have seen clips of old newsreels, or caught reruns of 50s sitcoms, so that part is straightforward. But there’s more. My visual acuity is poor and I have photophobia, meaning that bright light saturates my retinas and makes it difficult to see detail. So, picture a black and white television program with much of the detail blurred out. (My night vision, incidentally, is just about as good as yours). This explanation may give you a sense of what I can’t see, but it doesn’t really tell you what I can see.

Perhaps photography can bridge the gap. There’s far more to black and white than an absence of colour. I see beauty all around me, every day. I find it in form, in texture, in composition. I find it in the contrast between light and dark and, yes, in all the splendid shades of grey. I hope that by sharing my photographs I can convey something of my perspective, and show you how to look beyond colour to see the beauty in black and white.