Director Karen Murray describes her 48-minute documentary on blind photographer John Dugdale as ’15 ‘snapshots’ ‘ about his life and work, but the word does not do justice to the stunning poetic treatment of this remarkable story or the man at its centre.

Life’s Evening Hour, based on Dugdale’s book of the same name, features a languorous presentation of his photographs, his descriptions of how he managed to create them, plus his brave, wise comments on how he has coped since the 1994 illness which destroyed his sight.

cmv retinitis – caused by aids – which is to blame for Dugdale’s near blindness, has changed the physical characteristics of his eyes, but not his impressions of the world. ‘I understood,’ he writes in his book, ‘that although my eyes were changing, my vision was not.’

Nevertheless, one of the most haunting and enduring sequences in the documentary involves Dugdale being dropped off at his New York state farmhouse at dusk, and his sudden recollection that even his limited vision – only 20% in one eye – is useless at dusk and at night. He finds himself lost in his own front yard, and at one point walks into a field of high grass or perhaps grain, nearly panicked. Finally, by tossing stones before him and interpreting the sounds they make upon landing or hitting something, he finds his way to his front steps.

Like Dugdale’s photos, which capture vibrant moments in time and life with uncanny directness, Murray’s film is sensuous and intimate. This sensibility flows both from the director’s personal reaction to the photographs, and perhaps from her first meeting with Dugdale in his nyc studio apartment in February 1999. He handed her a copy of his first book of photographs. ‘There is something in a Dugdale print,’ Murray writes, ‘that communicates on so many different levels. They’re aesthetically pleasing, but they also convey a sense of timelessness and a wide range of feelings related to what was happening when the photo was taken.’

Made with a lot of help from friends in the industry who waived or deferred fees, the film’s final budget came in at $30,000. Murray received a licence from Bravo! and Canadian Learning Television, plus a Filmmakers Assistance Program grant from the National Film Board. Jan Rofekamp at Films Transit International is the distributor. Murray is writer and producer as well as director. Robert Fresco is dop and Ilan Doitch edited the production. Steven MacKinnon wrote the score and did the mix. *