Wheelchair Street Photography Techniques

Photography Tips  •  Street Photography

It’s amazing how many things we take for granted as photographers. In most cases, it isn’t until something life changing happens that we truly see how good we really had it. No one understands this more than street photographer Anthony Carbajal, whose career aspirations were shattered upon his 2014 diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s disease (aka ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis):

For those unfamiliar with the disease, ALS is a neurological disorder that affects the motor neurons within the body, where the signal from the brain to the muscles slowly dies and causes the muscles to deteriorate. Although Anthony loved his career as a wedding photographer, he had to walk away from industry after his diagnosis. The long workdays, constant demands, and heavy equipment were draining and actually sped up the deterioration of his muscles.

Carbajal uses a mounted camera attached to his wheelchair to capture his photos.

While Carbajal can no longer carry a camera, he hasn’t let that stop him from pursuing his passion for photography. In February 2016, he had a camera mounted to his wheelchair and began his comeback in street photography. Since then, he has spent the majority of his good days outdoors capturing new photos and meeting great people.

One of the amazing parts of Carbajal’s new photography aspirations is how his wheelchair has destroyed the typical social boundaries we face each day. It has enabled him to go out and capture raw and authentic photojournalistic-style imagery of his encounters that other photographers can only dream about.