Avery, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, speaks quietly and with some hesitation. She has only limited use of her arms and needs help with many daily activities.
But Avery is sharing how she sees the world in her first photography exhibit, “A View from a Wheelchair,” happening Friday and Saturday as part of Olympia’s Arts Walk.
“It was a dream I had to be a photographer, to take pictures of animals and nature,” Avery said.
The pictures are hers, but taking them and getting them ready for exhibit was a team effort organized through Morningside, a private not-for-profit company that helps people with disabilities find employment.
Earlier this month, she and photographer Steve Vento of Olympia were out taking photographs at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. Also along was retired forester Rollie Geppert, who had scouted the site before the photo session to see what areas Avery could access and where guardrails wouldn’t get in her way as she shot.
But guardrails are a regular part of her view.
“Maybe a third of her pictures have handrails or other obstacles in the foreground, drinking fountains that are eye level,” said Vento, who has been working to teach Avery photography for more than three months. “It can take people a minute to connect why this obtrusive handrail is in the way, but that is what she sees.”
It was a cold, wet day, and despite two umbrellas held over her and a plastic bag covering her camera between shots, Avery was getting wet as she rolled along a boardwalk at the sanctuary, stopping to take pictures of flowers, trees and skunk cabbage.
The way she takes pictures, though, is quite different from the way most people do.
“The first obstacle was that she couldn’t hold a camera,” Vento said. “That’s huge. When you take a picture, you have to be able to hold the camera level.
“What she brought to me was a desire to learn photography,” he added. “People say they want to learn photography all the time, but a lot of them don’t have the desire. They might take one lesson and give up.”
Before he and Avery began their weekly photo sessions in January, Vento put together a flexible cable and bracket system to attach the camera to her wheelchair. He also added a piece of rubber to the button so Avery could press it more easily.
Even that system has its challenges. On the trip to Nisqually, Avery was in a different wheelchair than she usually uses, and Vento had to figure out how to make the clamp work with that.
If a vertical picture is desired, Vento holds the camera still and Avery touches his hand when she wants him to take a picture.
“We don’t take the pictures the way I want to take them,” Vento said. “We have to take them the way she sees them.”
Of the pictures she’s taken over the past few months, Avery’s favorites are the ones of flowers.
Her Arts Walk show will include about 30 11-by-14 photographs taken at such sites as McLane Creek, the Capitol Campus, Swantown Marina and Percival Landing.
“There are some that I think we’ll probably sell that night,” Vento said. “I’ve had people ask already.”
Post-production work was done by members of the local chapter of the Professional Photographers of Washington.
“She needs to go to the next level,” Vento said. “She’s very good with a computer, but she’ll need some programs and some training with post-production work.”
He also talked about getting her a camera that would be easier to use.
“With accommodations, she can do anything,” said Cydnie Koreis, Avery’s employment consultant at Morningside. “It’s my job to make sure that her dream comes true.”
The eventual goal for Avery is to make photography into a career. “I want to work in a studio and take other pictures,” she said. “I want to take pictures of weddings.”
