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Photographer Stephen DiRado and biochemistry and studio art major Mary Badon share an interest in documentary photography. While DiRado finds inspiration close to home in Worcester, Mary photographed exotic wildlife on an island off the Panamanian coast. |
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Meet the artists:
So many options
Interview with Mary Badon
Mary Badon '05 has gained a name for herself early in her undergraduate career at Clark. She is the recipient of two national awards and has spent time during the past two summers conducting research in biochemistry. But since her first year at Clark, Mary Badon '05 has also been studying photography with instructor Stephen DiRado and is now planning to complete a studio art major in addition to a major in biochemistry. In a recent conversation, summarized below, she discussed the connection she sees between art and science, and her recent photographic work on an island (Isla Colón) off the Panamanian coast.
(Spring 2006 Update: Mary is now a medical student at Yale University.)
Did you know you wanted to study both biochemistry and photography when you came to Clark?
I knew that I liked both subjects! I had studied photography in high school and I spent a lot of time during my first semester at Clark doing photography. I was originally planning on completing my B.A. in three years. Then I got a scholarship at the end of my sophomore year, and because of that financial assistance, I decided to stay a fourth year and complete a studio art major as well.
Why did you choose to focus on photography?
I can't draw! Seriously, my father did photography and he encouraged me to take photography classes in high school to fulfill my art requirement. It wouldn't matter that I couldn't draw. I really enjoyed those classes.
Are there particular approaches or subjects that you like to explore as a photographer?
I enjoy close-up photography. I get really preoccupied with detail and like to focus on little things. I tried combining science and art by doing some microscopy, taking pictures of bugs close-up with a dissection microscope. In science they train you from a very reductionist point of view, especially in biochemistry where you look at the details, and you learn how things work by taking them apart. I had that sort of mindset. And at the same time in art, it's also very much an analysis of your surroundings, but in a different way. You take bits and pieces and put them together to understand how things interact. Art and science, at least for me, have the same goal, they just go about it in two different ways. One is synthesis and one is reductionist.
I think art is just another way of appreciating what's around you. In science, I don't want to forget how special everything is. If you start taking things apart too much, then you sort of forget why you're doing things. I guess photography for me is a way of standing back and sort of looking and thinking look how great this is, this is why we're studying this. So photography for me just provides another layer of appreciation.
I understand you spent the past summer at the Institute of Tropical Ecology and Conservation in Panama, studying coral reef ecology and photography as an independent study project.
Yes. I went there originally for three weeks to take the photography course, and had a blast. A few days before I planned to leave, I called my parents and asked to stay for the next session. During the next two weeks I studied coral reef ecology and continued with the photography.
What did you photograph when you were there?
Initially I tried to photograph everything, because it was all so new. Then I had to step back and think about what I really want to accomplish. I formed mini-projects. Every morning I would get up at six or seven a.m. (depending on the activities of the previous night!), and take pictures just as the light was coming up. The sun rises straight up at the equator, so you only have about fifteen minutes when there are nice long shadows. I would shoot along the beach and that would be my morning project. After that I'd walk down to the starfish beach. Around midday the rays shine through the water and cast patterns on the sand. Whenever the weather wasn't good, I visited bat caves. To get into one cave I had to crawl on my belly and drag my equipment in one piece at a time.
What did you use for lighting?
A head lamp and mag lights. One day my flashlight went out, and I had to try to find my spare in the pitch dark. You don't want to feel along the walls because there's a lot of weird stuff. When bats get sick, they move to the edges of the roost (where the bats perch together in a group on the roof of the cave), away from the healthy bats. You don't want to feel along the wall and get a bat bite.
I took the pictures using a strobe mechanism. To show what a learning curve there was, all my first pictures were of bats on the wall of the cave. Then I discovered that if I just stood there, and flashed pictures randomly, every once in a while I'd catch a bat in mid-flight. Eventually I learned to position myself at the end of a tunnel where I could hear the bats fly. When I heard their wings beat, I'd flash the strobe. Sometimes the bats would fly toward me, see me, and then turn around. This moment was when the best pictures would happen.
Did you take pictures using both digital and traditional photography?
Yes, I developed film there in the lab and I had my laptop for digital pictures. I shot with black and white, and a little color film. I also shot some underwater photography. I took a lot of pictures!
Is this project something you plan to continue with?
I'll be continuing with it as an independent study project next semester. Now that I've taken the pictures, I'm going to focus on improving my print developing technique and creating really nice prints.
Do you hope ultimately to unite your interests in biochemistry and photography?
I don't know. I think both subjects have their trials and tribulations, and their rewards. I don't know what my goals for myself are anymore. When I came to Clark I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and now I have no idea! There are so many options open to me now. I could go to medical school, graduate school, or art school. Now I have to do some soul-searching and find a path for myself.
Read about how DiRado's classes inspired another student, David Katz '95, to take on the family business.
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Additional Resources
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Mary Badon
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Click on any image to enlarge. Photographs below copyright
Mary Badon.
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Bat
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Bats
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Anteater
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Palm leaf
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Parrot.
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Snails
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Starfish beach
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Art and science
