An eye for an eye: a memoir
| Author(s) | Williamson, David | |
| Date Accessioned | 2012-07-03T13:24:21Z | |
| Date Available | 2012-07-03T13:24:21Z | |
| Publication Date | 2011 | |
| Abstract | On the evening of December 18, 1964 I had an accident that blinded my left eye. In July 2009 I woke up one morning not being able to see. My first thought was the same as I had in 1964 – I might go totally blind. Luckily my sight in my good eye returned shortly, but in the interim, my thoughts focused on how the accident had changed my life. My perspective of the world changed dramatically as a result of the accident in 1964. I became engrossed by the similarities of the camera and the human eye. I renewed an early interest in photography and mentally replaced my lost eye with a camera lens. I began a photographic diary. I changed careers and held positions in manufacturing, marketing and research. From 1972 through 1975 I lived in Europe and after return to the States, I continued to travel internationally until retirement. My camera went with me to places a tourist might never see. Travel sometimes involved unique and dangerous situations but expanded my understanding of the local history, culture and myself. First-hand exposure to foreign cultures encouraged me to learn more about them and in the process I learned more about my own. My memoir is based on the period from 1972 to 1985 when Apartheid was practiced in South Africa, Germany remained split in half and the Soviet Union was still intact. Argentina and Great Britain waged a brief war over the Falkland Islands, the cocaine business in Colombia went unchecked and Brazilian business leaders were kidnapped. The political ramifications for a nosy American with a camera were rife. I could have been perceived as a representative of one of the world's superpowers or merely a harmless tourist. Either way, at the street level, I was treated with unexpected acts of decency and human kindness. | en_US |
| Advisor | David Teague | |
| Degree | M.A. | |
| Program | Master of Arts in Liberal Studies | |
| URL | http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/10999 | |
| Publisher | University of Delaware | en_US |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Photographers -- Biography. | |
| Title | An eye for an eye: a memoir | en_US |
| Type | Thesis | en_US |