Long overdue Virginia

In the Summer of 2013, I had the opportunity to go to Arlington, VA to stay with photographer Cindy Dyer. The opportunity to was learn. Learn everything I can from my friend Cindy. I was to be her apprentice.

I met Cindy in 2012 at HLAA’s Hearing Loss Convention in Providence, RI. Her personal work aside, Cindy is the graphic designer and photographer for the Hearing Loss Magazine. She also has a hearing loss so naturally we hit it off, shot some photos and stayed in touch for the next year.

The next summer came along and I was riding an emotional roller coaster. Long story short, I was getting over a break-up. In the midst of learning to accept my new reality, Cindy thought it was a great idea for me use this time to visit her. To learn from her and dive my focus into photography. I was on board.. but slowly fell off.

I went to Virginia with eagerness. I fell in love with her home studio and craft room. She took me out to take photos at the Lotus garden, butterfly garden, and a huge sunflower field. Lots of fun; I even learned a few craft projects. However, I was still sad and not motivated the way I wanted to be. My motivation was up one day and down the other. I wasn’t in the right state of mind and it affected my work. It affected everything I did.

It was best to end it but I got something good out of it. After exploring D.C. deaf culture, I went to spend the remaining of my summer with my polo playing uncle on his farm in rural Virginia. Little did I know that my younger cousin, Sasha, whom I wasn’t close to, was visiting at the same time. I’m so glad this happened. I realized how little I knew her and how much I wanted to be in her life. I even got her to love film photography. She modeled a lot for me and we experimented with double exposure. We hung out on my uncle’s farm with their two dogs most days, we fished, rode horses and visited George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

As much as Sasha didn’t want me to leave, I was off to explore New York. For now, here are some pictures from start to end of my Virginia trip all in 35mm film, copyright Marisa Sarto, 2013.

This photo was taken by Sasha. We had gone out to eat and I let Sasha play around with my camera. When she took the photo, I had turned my head and heard the slow shutter, I thought, “Oh that’s not going to be a good photo.” I was wrong. I actually really like it and didn’t do any editing. I felt it really captured me and was I was going through that summer. Thanks Sasha.