Angi’s story
Angi Wallace, another regular competiton winner, finds that image-making is a big help when it comes to coping with ME
It’s not ‘just’ anxiety, depression and other common mental health disorders that can present serious psychological challenges for the photographer – the fallout from physical ailments can take a heavy toll too. Angi Wallace, a successful close-up and macro specialist based in the North East, suffers from ME, more commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome. ‘I’ve had ME for 15 years and it affects me in a range of ways causing very low energy, fatigue, brain fog, cognitive dysfunction and much more,’ Angi explains. ‘I had to give up a fantastic career as a specialist rheumatology nurse and hobbies such as cycling, mountain climbing and gardening. So I took up photography from home and was able to adapt.’ Angi describes photography as her silver lining in the dark cloud of long-term illness and now disability, as she can no longer walk independently further than a few metres. ‘Over the years I have managed to learn by practice and by attending camera clubs, reading, watching videos etc. Most of my work is done sat at our dining table, where I have set up everything I could need for close-up, macro and still-life photography.’ Despite her limitations, Angi has been named photographer of the year by the National Photographic Society for the past two years, while also wining plaudits from International Garden Photographer of the Year and the SWPP – as she notes with justified pride, ‘Not bad for someone who can often barely even shower!’
Focusing challenges
Considering that ME symptoms can include brain fog and difficulty with
concentration, we wondered how Angi could always muster the mental energy and focus required for her exquisite work? ‘It is a challenge, to be honest. On the rare times I go and do a landscape, my brain can’t always work through what I need to do to get the shot, even though I know the process. But it’s better to be doing it and trying it than not doing it. If I am doing the same sorts of things most of the time, as with macro photography, my camera is set up for this already.’
For Angi, photography also helps to combat any feelings that she is less ‘valuable’ to society. ‘I was career-driven before getting ME and I now put this drive into my images. Doing photography is my way of being productive.’ It’s great to see that Angi hasn’t lost her sense of humour, either. ‘I do well in competitions as I have been doing it for a while and have a sense of what will stand out, but I don’t think I have quite developed a thick-enough skin yet. Some judges can be idiots!’