About Me

My name is Ted Tahquechi, and I am a legally blind photographer.

My love of photography began in 1986, when I started shooting black and white film. I spent the better part of my career working in a very visually challenging  world as a video game producer.  I used my photography as a creative outlet for stress relief, and like many parents, as a tool to remember my children’s early years.

After a terrible car accident in 1999, I was left with no vision in my right eye and only  15% remaining vision in my left. For a brief time after the accident, I did not work on my art.  I let my limited vision keep me from life and what I really loved to do, enjoy the beautiful area we live in. I truly believe that the day I took the camera out again changed my life. With my visual limitation, I have very little distance sight, things get very blurry  at about a foot away, I lose most details. I started slow, using the camera at family gatherings and indoors to capture moments I could not see well enough.  My camera has now became a tool I use to later see on my computer monitor what I miss when I walk through life.

It was not until very recently that I have taken the camera outdoors and started shooting landscapes.  I find this an extremely challenging prospect as my vision creates a potentially dangerous situation when trying to find a spot to photograph. Outdoors there is no control over the light on your scene and I have a hard time telling what type of light is going on in the distance on a landscape.  Often the only feedback I have when I click the shutter, is the tiny screen on the back of the camera, which is very tough for me to see.

My lifelong love of the Santa Cruz area has inspired me to photograph my neighborhood and the wonders people see every day but take for granted, turning everyday sights into pieces of art that represent my ideal vision of the world around me.