This article presents amazing photos of an African boy with sapphire eyes. Needless to say, in such cases, it has brought doubts and suspicions of photoshopping, which forced the photographer herself to explain and put the matter to rest. Africans with multi-coloured eyes are facts, not fiction – watch this video. A new study shows blue-eyed humans are the product of genetic mutation. What is amazing nonetheless is the unusual sapphire colour range in the boy’s eyes.
The above image was recently entered into our Safari Readers’ Gallery. The photographer, Vanessa Bristow, called it The Boy with the Sapphire Eyes.
Within minutes of posting this magical picture, there was an enormous flood of comment and feedback. Amongst much of the rumpus was a fair degree of suspicion, doubting and downright slander about the picture’s authenticity. Swoops of ‘blatant photoshopping’ were amongst the commotion. The majority of people drew their immediate conclusion - this photo was a fake!
It always amazes me how some people’s very first reaction to a photo on the internet is a negative one. I’m not sure what qualifies a ‘real’ or ‘doctored’ image, but many of the comments assured that this pic had all the tell-tale signs of photoshopping.
Let us set the record straight. The photo is not altered at all. Here is a comment from the photographer herself:
"To all of you DOUBTING THOMAS’S out there who distrust the originality of this photograph: It is NOT Photoshopped. I was in the local communal lands looking for my lost Dalmatian dog, and I stopped to ask his mother if she had seen it. While I was talking to her, her son, who was playing with his siblings and friends nearby, caught my eye. I asked her if I could photograph him, and this is the first picture that I took of him - it was possibly his first interaction up close with a white person, and his fascination in me, or in the camera, is plainly evident. I took a few photos of him at the time, and a few more later on a follow-up. An ophthalmologist friend had this to say about his unusual eyes:
The picture of the little boy with the blue eyes and dark skin probably represents Ocular Albinism or Nettleship-Falls albinism, or Juvenile uveitis. Both conditions cause the pigment of the iris to be less dense.
Thanks for all the support from those of you who like my picture.
The picture of Theuns below was taken a week or two after the first. This time, he was much more relaxed with me, and I let him “click” the camera a few times to get him to engage with me."
I must say, when I first saw the photo, my initial thought was that blue eyes sometimes occurred in black people because of a recessive gene. If you are interested in reading a fascinating book - I recommend The Sunburnt Queen, by Hazel Crampton. Based in the 1730s, the book is about a seven-year-old English girl who was washed up on the Wild Coast of South Africa and was adopted by her rescuers. She grew to be a woman of astounding beauty and wisdom and became the Great Wife of a prince. So starting a dynasty that extends to many of today’s Xhosa royal families.
Because of her recessive gene in the blood line, every now and then, a black child in the area is born with bright blue eyes.
All photos: Copyright Vanessa Bristow
This boy is miracle. He is so nice and so sweet.
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