Leamington Spa photographer on life after dropping an eye fixed

An accident whereas on an industrial picture shoot led to Charlie Flounders dropping an eye fixed.

As an expert photographer, she was left questioning whether or not or not she would have the ability to work or lead her regular life once more.

“Losing an eye would be difficult for anyone, but there was an extra layer in it for me because my vision was not only my work and my income, but my identity,” she stated.

“All the learning I’ve had in the 18 months, it’s like a box of treasure and it’s kind of bursting out of its seams – it feels like it’s selfish to keep hold of this learning now.” .

The photographer, now 43 and from Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, stated the trauma of the accident, in August 2024, was initially arduous to just accept.

“If I’m honest, it took a good few weeks for it to really sink in and then it took three to four months of what I would call absolute heartbreak and despair,” she stated.

Everything needed to be relearnt and she or he confronted an enormous quantity of processing – not simply her emotionally but additionally bodily as her mind learnt to see the world differently.

She notably struggled with the impact on her depth notion.

“I go to hang my keys on a hook at home when I get in, and I always miss the hook by an inch,” she stated.

“I was really sure right from the very off… I will not let this define me, and of course it has completely defined me, but I think what I meant by that was that I will not become a victim of this.”

Her work was her “heart and soul”, however the means of going again and understanding what she may do was tough.

“There was a good amount of time when I just didn’t think I would be able to do it at all, and I didn’t pick up my cameras for five or six months,” she stated.

“My income had gone, I had a lot of work that I needed to cancel or find cover for.”

Eventually, she labored out that she may nonetheless use her digicam, however wanted to place her “good” eye as much as the lens.

“I can take brilliant photos still, I can’t do some of the jobs I used to do, I certainly won’t be doing any big industrial jobs which is where the accident happened,” she advised the BBC CWR.

“I used to do a lot of wedding photography, [I] can’t do that, because it involves being nimble and in and out of lots of people and spaces, it’s more what i’m physically able to do.”

“The way I think is through pictures, everything I see is a photo in my mind.

“Your physique may be very intelligent, your mind neuro-adapts and your good remaining eye nearly expands its peripheral imaginative and prescient, so they are saying you do not lose 50 per cent of your sight, you lose about 20, 25 per cent as a result of the opposite one picks up the slack – which is superb.”

Flounders received a prosthetic eye from the NHS. It was hand painted to be an exact match to her functioning eye, but she currently wears a purple one.

“There’s fairly a stigma round having a facial distinction… folks have a tendency to cover it,” she stated.

“It felt a bit unusual for me to attempt to cowl up my new distinction, there are occasions that I wish to try this.

“I didn’t realise how intrinsically my self worth and identity around beauty was linked with how my face looked.”

Flounders now does public talking, and in addition began a podcast, referred to as One Eye on the Horizon, after not with the ability to discover folks speaking about experiences like hers on-line.

“I aim to carry on and on and on until there’s a beautiful bank of stories for anyone who’s newer to the journey than I am, to hear all of these amazing different golden nuggets of knowledge and experience and information,” she stated.

“I’ve learnt so much.”