BELIEF is the key to the success of Partho Bhowmick’s Blind with Camera Photography School, through which he has encouraged hundreds of people with visual impairments to start taking pictures.

Some of the thousands of striking images they have produced will form the Beyond Sight exhibition, opening at Liverpool Cathedral today.

“The first challenge is understanding their visual perception, how closely or remotely they are connected to visual reality and the power of image formation in their minds,” explains Bhowmick.

“Then I make them believe they can take pictures.”

The nature of his students’ disabilities gives them a unique perspective of the world, which is reflected in their photographs.

“People who have been born blind surprise me most,” says Bhowmick.

“Their work is very different as they go by touch and sound only.

“Late blind people try to establish a reconciliation of the memory of sight with the visual realities he or she is living with. Touch and sound helps to establish the union.

“The low vision photographers use their residual sight more than touch and sound. Their work is very close to pictures taken by sighted photographers.”

In August, Bhowmick launched the Blind with Camera Photography School online, at www.blindwithcameraschool.org so people all over the world can benefit from his techniques.

He and two of his students will be staying in Liverpool for the next two weeks, commissioned by deaf and disability arts festival DaDaFest International to photograph the city.

BEYOND Sight is at Liverpool Cathedral until December 3.