Photographer Flo Fox, who was blind in both eyes and paralysed from the neck down, dies aged 79 of pneumonia

Flo Fox, who was also eventually paralysed her from the neck down due to MS, died on March 2 in her apartment in Manhattan due to complications of pneumonia. The star, who had also fought lung cancer, was 79 years old.

Despite being legally blind and dependent on a motorised wheelchair she had a hugely impressive career which spanned five decades. In that time, she took around 180,000 photographs, published a book, contributed to numerous publications and exhibited her work at the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian Institution and galleries around the world.

Back in 2022, she said she felt like being blind actually helped her to take better photos. “I always felt I had one great advantage being born blind in one eye and never having to close that eye while taking a picture,” she told Viewfinder, the Leica Society International journal. “I also didn’t have to convert a three-dimensional view to a flat plain, since that was the way I automatically saw. All I had to do was frame the image perfectly.”

When MS, which she had been diagnosed with at the age of 30, also caused the vision in her left eye faded to fade she found a way to continue taking photos. She switched to a 35-millimeter autofocus camera and released the shutter by pressing a rubber bulb in her mouth. Then later, as her condition worsened, she got others to help to shoot the pictures after she had framed the shot. She also began photographing late in the day or at night, to avoid glare that strained her eyes.

By 1999 she was paralysed from the neck down, but she still continued to capture photos until 2023. She was known particularly for her candid shots of everyday life. In a 2015 interview with the website Curbed New York, she described herself as “a tourist every day in my own town.”

Fox had a passion for photography and photos since she was a teenager, but she couldn’t afford to buy her first camera until the age of 26. She used her first paycheck from a new costume design job to buy it.

Throughout her life, she was an advocate for the disabled and has taught photography class for the blind and visually impaired students. She also fought lung cancer. When she learned of her diagnosis in 2010 she wrote in her own eulogy. In it, she said: “For over 30 years Flo Fox photographed graffiti and any artwork that people left to sustain their memory. Now in death, Flo requests that you leave your signature, initials, tag or graffiti mark on her coffin.”

Details of her funeral have not yet been announced. Fox is survived by her son Ron Ridinger.