John Dugdale

John Dugdale (born 1960 in Connecticut) is an American art photographer. Early life and career Dugdale's interest in photography started at the age of twelve with his first camera, which was a present from his mother. He attended the School of the Visual Arts in New York City where he majored in photography and art history. In 1983 his photographic work was first presented in a solo exhibition at Vienna's Molotov Art Gallery. The show and the catalogue were curated by Christian Michelides, the founder of the gallery. Thereafter he started a successful decade long commercial career working for such clients as Bergdorf Goodman, Martha Stewart, and Ralph Lauren. Blindness In 1993, at age 33, Dugdale became nearly total blind due to a stroke and CMV retinitis, an HIV-related illness. He became completely blind in his right eye and lost eighty percent visibility in his left eye. In 2010 he lost his remaining vision. Blindness ended his successful commercial photography career, but he decided to persist in photography and started to explore techniques from the 19th century for fine art photography, in order to use older, less harsh photochemistry, and enlisting friends and family as assistants.