Working with Dash
A little over a year ago, I had the opportunity to meet a student named Dashiell Reardon.
When walking through the halls, I noticed that Dash would take his time, and move at his own pace; Whereas, everyone else who typically works within the Photography Department is running around frantically. Moreover, I noticed that Dash would primarily keep to himself. Eventually, I had the opportunity to learn more about Dash.
Turns out that Dash is legally blind. In one eye, he is void of any sight. In the other, he sees through a tiny pinhole, in the upper left quadrant of his eye. This blew my mind. I always enjoyed learning about photographers with similar visual imperfections that Dash lives with: Bruce Hall, Evgen Bavcar and Rosita Mackenzie to name a few. Now, there is one walking through Point Park University's Photography Department. I would often talk with some of his professors and some would mention that he was struggling in some aspects of the class, but would not ask many questions, wouldn't ask for help, and would make his attempts to work through his struggles on his own. His professors knew about his vision impairment and figured that he kept to himself because he didn’t want to be a burden by asking for extra help. However, eventually, it came time for Dash to begin printing work in the darkrooms. This is when the real struggles seem to hit him. Being that his eyesight is severely limited, anyone could imagine how incredibly difficult it would be to print an image onto paper, in complete darkness, when your already at a disadvantage visually. That is when I met with him and one of his professors.
The topic came up that I would work hand-and-hand, with Dash, in the darkroom, to help get his images onto paper. Soon after the three-way meeting between him, his professor and I, I met with Dash individually. That is when I told Dash that it is time for him to use his disability as an advantage. I begin speaking with Dash often about those same photographers that I mentioned before- the ones who also lack the visual capabilities that I and many others currently possess. After discussing, and learning about how Dash sees, what he sees, and how the light effects his ability to see certain things, I told Dash exactly what we should do. I told him that I want him to take the images that he photographed and print them in a way that mimics exactly how he sees. Why would someone who does not see how we see, work with photography in a way that everyone else works with photography? I felt like he had a chance to document photography in a very personal, and individualistic way that would come off as creative in the artistic world. Dash was 100% on board with the idea proposed to him. So, I left it up to him. He went into the labs, developed his film, and then crafted filters that would seal off portions of light when printing the image to paper.
Now, Dash and I both thought this was going to be a one day, get-in, get-out type of project considering that it typically takes me five-minutes to print work a darkroom.......... We were wrong. What I didn't realize is that we would be doing multiple layering, manipulating, and printing onto one sheet of paper; Something I had never done before. So, that's when the finagling began. It took hours to properly manipulate the light source from the enlarger, block off portions of paper, differentiate the times in light exposure, and screaming to get just ONE image developed in a way that represented exactly what he sees. Finally, we thought that after we had figured out one print, that we could steamroll through the remaining seven. BUT, that is when I realized that each image he shot, was composed differently, in different lighting situations. Which meant that each print would need its own variance of manipulations. Each image was unique in its own printing development. Which, meant more hair pulling, screaming, and paper wasting. This was a photography battle that I had never worked through. However, after nearly a week of living inside a darkroom, we were able to figure it out. Each image was like its own mathematical equation that needed to be solved, and each equation WAS finally solved. With eight prints in hand, Dash had completed the printing process and had a set of images that properly depicted what he sees and was ready for his final.
This entire process was one that I never thought would be as difficult as it was. Which was a very good thing. Dash taught me a whole new way to work within a darkroom that I hadn't done before. Using his mind, and creativity, along with my experience in a darkroom and manipulating photography, we both left with a body of work that I think speaks for itself. I can sit here and tell you that I take absolutely no ownership in the work created. Dash created this project. He shot the images, and then allowed me to work within the darkroom to help create a project that highlights how one can take a disability and make it an advantage. I could not be more grateful to Dash for opening up and allowing both of us to not only learn new ways to work within our medium but allowing himself to see photography as he sees photography.
When walking through the halls, I noticed that Dash would take his time, and move at his own pace; Whereas, everyone else who typically works within the Photography Department is running around frantically. Moreover, I noticed that Dash would primarily keep to himself. Eventually, I had the opportunity to learn more about Dash.
Turns out that Dash is legally blind. In one eye, he is void of any sight. In the other, he sees through a tiny pinhole, in the upper left quadrant of his eye. This blew my mind. I always enjoyed learning about photographers with similar visual imperfections that Dash lives with: Bruce Hall, Evgen Bavcar and Rosita Mackenzie to name a few. Now, there is one walking through Point Park University's Photography Department. I would often talk with some of his professors and some would mention that he was struggling in some aspects of the class, but would not ask many questions, wouldn't ask for help, and would make his attempts to work through his struggles on his own. His professors knew about his vision impairment and figured that he kept to himself because he didn’t want to be a burden by asking for extra help. However, eventually, it came time for Dash to begin printing work in the darkrooms. This is when the real struggles seem to hit him. Being that his eyesight is severely limited, anyone could imagine how incredibly difficult it would be to print an image onto paper, in complete darkness, when your already at a disadvantage visually. That is when I met with him and one of his professors.
The topic came up that I would work hand-and-hand, with Dash, in the darkroom, to help get his images onto paper. Soon after the three-way meeting between him, his professor and I, I met with Dash individually. That is when I told Dash that it is time for him to use his disability as an advantage. I begin speaking with Dash often about those same photographers that I mentioned before- the ones who also lack the visual capabilities that I and many others currently possess. After discussing, and learning about how Dash sees, what he sees, and how the light effects his ability to see certain things, I told Dash exactly what we should do. I told him that I want him to take the images that he photographed and print them in a way that mimics exactly how he sees. Why would someone who does not see how we see, work with photography in a way that everyone else works with photography? I felt like he had a chance to document photography in a very personal, and individualistic way that would come off as creative in the artistic world. Dash was 100% on board with the idea proposed to him. So, I left it up to him. He went into the labs, developed his film, and then crafted filters that would seal off portions of light when printing the image to paper.
Now, Dash and I both thought this was going to be a one day, get-in, get-out type of project considering that it typically takes me five-minutes to print work a darkroom.......... We were wrong. What I didn't realize is that we would be doing multiple layering, manipulating, and printing onto one sheet of paper; Something I had never done before. So, that's when the finagling began. It took hours to properly manipulate the light source from the enlarger, block off portions of paper, differentiate the times in light exposure, and screaming to get just ONE image developed in a way that represented exactly what he sees. Finally, we thought that after we had figured out one print, that we could steamroll through the remaining seven. BUT, that is when I realized that each image he shot, was composed differently, in different lighting situations. Which meant that each print would need its own variance of manipulations. Each image was unique in its own printing development. Which, meant more hair pulling, screaming, and paper wasting. This was a photography battle that I had never worked through. However, after nearly a week of living inside a darkroom, we were able to figure it out. Each image was like its own mathematical equation that needed to be solved, and each equation WAS finally solved. With eight prints in hand, Dash had completed the printing process and had a set of images that properly depicted what he sees and was ready for his final.
This entire process was one that I never thought would be as difficult as it was. Which was a very good thing. Dash taught me a whole new way to work within a darkroom that I hadn't done before. Using his mind, and creativity, along with my experience in a darkroom and manipulating photography, we both left with a body of work that I think speaks for itself. I can sit here and tell you that I take absolutely no ownership in the work created. Dash created this project. He shot the images, and then allowed me to work within the darkroom to help create a project that highlights how one can take a disability and make it an advantage. I could not be more grateful to Dash for opening up and allowing both of us to not only learn new ways to work within our medium but allowing himself to see photography as he sees photography.