FALL RIVER, MASS. (WPRI) — On a recent summer day, 26-year-old Jonathan Huggon’s eyes and Neil Klein’s lens focused on Battleship Cove.
They search for shots together, with Huggon giving the OK with a bump of his wrist to Klein’s hand.
“This looks good?” Klein asks.
Huggon smiles in return.
As they set up with the USS Massachusetts in the background, Klein guides the camera. He looks to his partner for approval for elements like framing, lens exposure, and shutter speed before Huggon hits the button with his wrist guard.
Cerebral palsy stole Huggon’s ability to speak but not his desire to artistically capture moments around New England.
“At the end of the day, we’ll go back and we’ll look at all the shots that he was able to take,” Klein said. “Then he can select them and choose which ones he might want to go on Facebook.”
This is not just about summertime snapshots.
They go out in the snow.
When storms churn up the ocean, the pair hits the road, find the swells and frame up the action.
“Where are we going to go later?” Klein asks after several pictures in Fall River. “Do you want to head down to Sakonnet Point?”
Huggon may enjoy the journey getting there as much as the pictures he takes.
“It gives him a sense of reflection of where he was and what he saw, and he really does look at the lighting,” Klein said. “We work on that a lot because lighting is a big part of this.”
Huggon has given away hundreds of his images as computer screen savers for personnel at Taunton City Hall, where he volunteers delivering mail.
He’s also sold pictures at local fairs and through his business All Things Possible.
The money is nice, but his craft also helps Huggon communicate moments, artistic expressions, and places to see with complete strangers.
“Just the other day, a woman saw some of his photographs from Colt State Park,” Klein recalled. “She was so impressed with them she went there with her husband. It’s now one of his favorite places.”
The stories—the connections—matter.
“It just gives him a big smile and he loves this stuff because people can talk to him about all these places,” Klein added. “He can share all of this with everybody.”
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