‘My visual impairment has spurred me on to a photography career’

“If you put your camera out of focus, that’s what it looks like with my left eye,” said William Hickie.

Despite limited vision due to a condition called amblyopia, the 23‑year‑old said it has not stopped him from pursuing his dream as a professional photographer.

Mr Hickie, from Tameside, Greater Manchester, has gained a following with his photography of the Peak District and he has recently featured on BBC Countryfile for his work in Derbyshire.

“A camera only has one lens and one sensor, rather than two lenses and one sensor. So only being able to see out of one eye might actually benefit me,” he said.

Mr Hickie said his passion for photography started when he was 14.

“I’m not too sure what actually sparked the interest,” he said.

“I’ve always been creative and I’ve always loved the outdoors, so I think when I picked up the camera, it just kind of put them both together and something happened. I enjoyed it, and that was it.”

Mr Hickie was diagnosed with a lazy eye when he was a child and was given eye patches to try and correct his vision.

He said: “I had to use patches over my strong eye, but because I couldn’t see where I was going, I just used to rip them off all the time.

“We tried eye drops to fix it, then we tried glasses, but I took them off all the time.”

Mr Hickie added because his eyesight was not “fixed” as a child, his brain has started to “ignore” his left eye completely.

“It [my eyesight] transitioned to something called amblyopia, which is a neurodevelopmental issue, where your brain just starts to ignore your eye, which means I’m pretty much only seeing out of my right eye.”

As well as having amblyopia, Mr Hickie said he also has a type of colour blindness called deuteranopia.

Mr Hickie said colours such as green, brown, pink and grey are all “mushy”.

“In between a gradient, most people can see all the different shades of colours,” he added.

“Whereas for me, in the centre, that’s just one block of colour, it all looks the same.

“So it’s just like the distinct shades between each colour, they’re just not there.”

Mr Hickie said his colour blindness does not affect his work.

But he firmly believes his visual impairment is one of the main motivations behind pursuing a photography career so he could prove himself “worthy”.

After taking thousands of photographs in the Peak District, Mr Hickie said his image of a stag inside Froggatt Woods, near Calver, won the attention of BBC Countryfile.

He was then asked to take photographs for the show’s episode, where presenters Anita Rani and Sean Fletcher explored the Chatsworth Estate.

“Photography now has pretty much totally consumed my life, in a good way,” he said.

“Landscape photography gives me the opportunity to get out of the house, go for a nice walk and enjoy nature and being outside. I think it’s just a really good thing to do.

Mr Hickie is now urging people to not let anything get in the way of people chasing their dreams.

“If there is something you’re really passionate about and someone tries to take you off the path, just stay on,” he said.