My dad taught me how to dodge and burn when developing black & white photographs.
I was just now blending liquids, making something in the kitchen when I noticed
my hands dodging and burning as if making pictures.
I was fascinated watching him use his hands lightly,
dancing, improvising. He let me do it by myself,
my own hands, with my own photographs.
He said yes, there, that worked, and no, there, it didn’t work.
And he patiently reproduced the negative
so I could practice again, dancing my hands,
in the light.
-M. Petersen
