Flo Fox

New York City, United States

About the Artist:
Flo Fox was born blind in one eye, so, according to her, she was an automatic photographer because she never needed to close an eye to take a picture. She lost the vision in her other eye in 1975 and was declared legally blind at just the time when she had photographed herself nude for Playboy Magazine.

Not long after, Flo discovered that the numbness she felt in one of her hands and legs was caused by Multiple Sclerosis. Nonetheless, Flo was determined not to let that affect her career as a fine arts photographer. Not an easy decision given that her preference is to be outdoors shooting the people and places in New York City.

When asked how her disabilities have affected her work, Fox said that she began to see interfering patterns in 1975, caused by dead nerve endings which eventually made it impossible to focus on an image.

As her MS progressed, Flo's muscle tone deteriorated. She went from using a cane to a motorized scooter. In 1999, an accident resulted in her loosing the use of her right hand. Although that did not prevent her from continuing to take her camera everywhere she went, she now needs to ask for someone to push the shutter release button.

Among Flo’s many notable accomplishments, was that she was given the first autofocus camera by Konica to field test for the magazine Camera 35.

She was recognized in Ripley's Believe It or Not, as a blind photographer and originated a course in photography at the "Lighthouse for the Blind". Typical of her sense of humor, Flo described this literally as "the blind leading the blind – positively!"

Flo has had countless exhibitions. Much of her work has been published in magazines and books. She has presented seminars on her photography at the Nikon House and Park West Camera Club in New York City; at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

As a photographer she has also appeared on the Today show, Tomorrow with Tom Snyder and Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. At one point she hosted her own cable TV show called The Foto Flo Show. Documentaries on her life have also been done for Japanese (1994) and German (1997) television.

Flo Fox credits much of her success on her positive attitude and on the fact that she just doesn't let herself get discouraged.

Taken from an article in Challenged Visions by Robert Schaefer Jr.