A #tbt cover story interview with award-winning legally blind photographer Kurt Weston who appeared in In Your Light, Do We See Light a new short film about photography and photographers

Over almost two decades now I’ve had the chance to interview the amazing award-winning, legally blind photographer Kurt Weston several times. In this post, I’d like to share a #tbt cover story published last year, in A&U Magazine.

Journey Through Darkness
Award-winning, legally blind photographer Kurt Weston talks about his journey through the darkness of AIDS and related blindness, about art and activism
by Alina Oswald

In 2005, while browsing the web, I came across a writing-and-photography contest called Unfinished Works. Intrigued by the name, I followed the link only to discover a black-and-white photograph called The Last Light. It showed a man sitting in an armchair, with his back to a large window. The daylight flooding the room wrapped around his frail body like a cape. The reflection of the dim artificial light inside the room glowed in his eyes like two embers about to burn out.

I found the photograph both haunting and intriguing. Soon, I discovered that it was the work of award-winning, legally blind photographer Kurt Weston and secretly hoped that, one day, I would be able to interview the visual artist.

Then, in 2006, on a bright sunny day, I found myself in Washington, DC, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, for the opening night of that year’s Very Special Arts show. Founded in 1974 by former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy Smith, VSA is an international nonprofit organization showcasing the work of artists with disabilities. The exhibition, Transformation, featured Kurt Weston’s work.

One of the photographs showed Weston holding an old Nikon camera. It was the same camera he had bought in 1983 when getting ready to go back to school to pursue his second degree, a Bachelor of fine arts in Photography, from Chicago’s Columbia College.

Weston’s passion for photography started with a high school photography course. Yet, in college, he studied fashion merchandising at Northern Illinois University. After graduating, he landed a few jobs, none of which turned out to be what he had imagined. Yet, through it all, he realized that his passion for photography had remained intact.

So, in 1983 Weston took out school loans and enrolled in a photography program at Columbia College in Chicago. He graduated in 1985 and eventually got a job as a darkroom photographer at Pivot Point, an international fashion photography company, where he also volunteered to work with models and hairstylists, and photograph during the weekends.

One of the company’s trademarks was an industry-specific book, Design Forum. It offered information on the latest trends in hair styling techniques, news and updates from the industry’s finest hair designers, and the like. 

When working on one of those books, designers, and producers realized that they didn’t have enough images and that the available images were not what they were looking for. One of the hairstylists working with Weston during the weekends mentioned the freelance photo shoots and offered to show a few images. The Design Forum producers took a look and decided to use Weston’s work to complete the project on time.

Kurt Weston became their full-time fashion photographer. But, as his career began to sore, many of his friends started to lose their battle with a mysterious virus [HIV] threatening their lives. One evening, during the summer of 1981, while watching the news, the photographer learned about “a strange cancer that seemed to be spreading in the gay community, and nobody knew where it had come from or how it was being spread.”

By 1991 the number of HIV- and AIDS-related deaths skyrocketed. Still, Weston didn’t worry. He had been feeling fine…up until October, when he started coughing. It was a persistent and exhausting cough, draining him of energy.

[Read more here]

NOTE:

Most recently, Kurt Weston was cast to play in an inspiring short film about photography, photographers, and visually impaired photographers. Created by Joey Zhao, In Your Light, Do We See Light screened at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 12^th and now can be seen on Vimeo.

It is a must-see, not-to-be-missed short film! Check it out!