Photos: Legless photographer snaps from ground up

Kevin Connolly, a 22-year-old photographer born without legs and self-described 'camera geek', is probably best-known for The Rolling Exhibition. It's his series of digital photos that show strangers looking at him as he rolls by on his skateboard that he propels with his hands.

This picture was taken in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, as part of a series shot in burst mode as Connolly was skateboarding off the sidewalk and into a street. He shot behind his back with his Nikon D200 digital SLR while trying to dodge cars, including the moving car in the shot.

"I knew at that point that I had gotten the shot, and I don't think anyone besides me could have that exact shot," he said.

Credit: Kevin Connolly

Connolly calls this photo 'the first real stunner', saying it was one of the first shots in his series that really captured his intent. He shot it in Shibuya, Tokyo, while rolling through one of the busiest pedestrian crossings in the world, during an evening rainstorm. By using the panning technique, he blurred the entire background except the people he snapped, although he wasn't intentionally framing the couple in the image.

Connolly graduated from Montana State University in May, and is looking forward with a move to New Zealand and a book about The Rolling Exhibition in the works.

Credit: Kevin Connolly

This photo, shot in Paris, was originally not one of Connolly's favorites, so he didn't include it in The Rolling Exhibition gallery. But his family and friends like the shot, and he has started showing it in public. "I thought it was funny just because it showed an owner and a pet that look really similar -- and they both had that same really strange expression."

Credit: Kevin Connolly

Connolly thinks this picture from Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina isn't one of his best technically, but it is one of his favourites as it captures some of the detritus he rolled through on his skateboard to get many of his shots.

"I love the aesthetics of disgusting stuff lying on the ground -- debris and the fact that you can still snag a person in the midst of that."

Credit: Kevin Connolly