This was the first Event I’ve taken photos of with both eyes cataract-free since March of last year. Technically, I was mostly blind for most of 2025. Mostly. I’ve been staring through a thick beige cloud in my right eye — my shooting eye — which was restricted to about 30% of my vision. My left eye was a little bit worse. So… all those photos of the VKH Fair, Trash & Treasure, Hawkesbury concerts, Santa Claus, and all the rest that I’ve taken over this past year, were done so based on intuition, autofocus, and making sure what I wanted to shoot was in the middle of the frame.

I had my first cataract surgery on December 12, 2025. Because I stupidly drank some water just before the operation, I ended up having it done with no sedation. Which was unbelievably uncomfortable. I could finally see out of my right-eye as soon as I got off the table. Like, everything was crystal clear, and it was not a little disconcerting to finally notice just how messed up my sight had been. My second eye was done just a couple of weeks ago, this time with the bliss of sedation, and now I have 20-20 vision in both eyes at distance… unfortunately, because I had the ‘freebie / government paid’ surgery version, anything closer than 18-inches is blurry, so now I have to wear ‘reading glasses’ — the kind you buy at the Dollar Store or the Pharmacy, just to see the settings on my camera.

So I was blind, but now I see… which is taking me a while to get used to again.

This particular Event was a dual artist Vernissage at Vankleek Hill’s ‘Arbor Gallery’ [homepage], featuring ‘Where Water Meets Land’ by Mary Gourlay [From The Review], and ‘Rise’ by Sinclair Maloney [Artist Page]. The work presented by both artists were / was excellent… I brought my youngest son, Quintin, who also really enjoyed the art. I gave him a camera to shoot with, and everything he took photos of were / was in focus. Everything I took photos of was just out of focus… mostly because I couldn’t see the little screen on the back of my Nikon.

Even more disappointing, I had made a deal with the Artistic Director for the Gallery, that I would supply her with photos of the Event. It was only afterwards, while editing the shots, that I realized I must have had the camera’s centre-focus set the whole time. Which often meant the main subject was often just out of focus… aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgh. I did, however, get a great shot of Quintin using his camera, so that makes it pretty much a win.

…anyway, all of the photos below have something in focus, just not necessarily what I wanted to focus on. So, just click on one to get the carousel started, and don’t forget to leave a comment… seriously, let me know what you think. Thanks.