Before rekindling her passion for photography, birds in flight were just gray streaks in the air to Christine Gorhum.
Gorhum, who has been losing her sight since her late 20s, uses sound and motion to snap photos of birds on the property she shares with her husband, Robert, near Lake Conroe.
Her favorite subjects to photography are birds of all colors. But she also captures images of flowers, portraits of people, colorful photos from their vacations and even Astros players at games and has sold some of her Astros prints.
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“I taught myself some tricks,” said Gorhum, 61. “I wait for the sound, and I have a camera with a big screen and I hold it up to my face. When I see movement, I start clicking.”
Then she transfers the photos to a large monitor where she can see them up close.
This summer she took her love for photography one step further and she published a children’s book that features illustrations based on images of birds that she captured.
The book, “The Adventures of Bunny and Boy,” is now for sale on the online retailer Amazon. It is 41 bound pages with the stories by Gorhum and the illustrations drawn by her daughter-in-law Erika Gorhum.
The book is for ages 4 to 18 and sells for $11.99.
Gorhum was adopted at birth and grew up in Fallbrook, California.
Her love for photography started around age 3 when she picked up her father’s camera and snapped a few shots. She wore glasses in school, but she said her vision was never an issue early on.
Then at 10, she got a Kodak instant camera and took pictures of anything that interested her. In school at Fallbrook High, she took a photography class.
It wasn’t until her late 20s that she began losing her sight. She was diagnosed with a hereditary condition that impacted her vision. She researched and located her birth father and discovered his family carries the trait for this vision loss that she said doesn’t even have a name.
“I just couldn’t see, and the doctor talked me into cornea implants,” she said. “That was sad because you had to wait for a donor.”
The implants did not work out and she had them removed.
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She estimates she’s had 25 surgeries to maintain the vision she has. Because this condition is passed through family, her son also has the condition, but his vision is not yet at her level.
One day, she was sitting outside on her property and she said she heard the most beautiful song.
“That bird started singing and it made me happy,” she said. “I took a picture where the sound was coming from, and it was a red streak. I decided I wanted to get back to where I was with photography.”
Gorhum has four grandchildren and would often tell her grandson nap time stories.
As he started to read, she decided to compile all the stories together into a book.
Some stories are about her grandson, some are about a pet rabbit named Bunny and Bunny’s adventures and some are from her imagination.
One story is inspired by the “Spooky Tree” at the back of their property. It’s tall hollowed-out tree that would make a good hiding spot.
Her good friend and longtime Courier columnist Mark Hayter lives near the Gorhums and he was able to give her some pointers for the book.
They met about 10 years ago when both were attending the Longmire Road Church of Christ.
“This is something she’s passionate about (photography) and she’s ambitious about getting information out and helping other people,” he said. “It was a refreshing to find out she had written a book.”
