I have worked at the EOYDC for about two years teaching a black and white photography class.  It is one of the most satisfying experiences of my career as an artist, arts educator and journalist. It is very important to me to maintain a connection to the “everyday” Black and Latino community, and not become someone who loses touch with my people, because I have had certain educational opportunities. I’ve always felt that working in the community is part of my responsibility, and that is evident in the work I have done in Harlem, The Bronx, San Francisco and Oakland. There are some challenges, but they are worth it.

Initially I was unsure of how things would work out. I was teaching a drop in class for the first time, which made developing a consistent, cumulative curriculum difficult. In addition the students were very young, the average age in any given class is about 10 years old. However after being at the EOYDC for a couple of months I realized my job was more about providing access to an experience, than building an extensive set of skills. Having the opportunity to work in a real photographic darkroom is pretty uncommon for the youth we serve. It has been very fulfilling giving them the opportunity to be exposed to this experience. I also realized that even though the age of my students was pretty young, my class provided an opportunity for them to interact with one another in a more personal setting. I found they were able to express themselves in a more thoughtful way, both with me, the teacher, and their fellow students. I think this is because of the class size and tasks the class requires. They have to cooperate due to the nature of printing and developing pictures in the darkroom. I saw this encourage personal interactions between a wide range of students, students who I felt would not be interacting with each other to such a degree in another class.

I believe this type of experience works well when combined with the other activities at the EOYDC, which have more students and involve more exertion of physical energy. My class gave them an opportunity to slow down, concentrate, and talk through their ideas. A lot of what I do simply involves talking to the students, about what they are thinking about. Sometimes these thoughts are as simple as a TV shows and movies, sometimes it is something more profound about their view of the world, or a serious issue at school or in their communities. It makes me feel good to be able to convey to them, however implicitly, that adults do value their thoughts, ideas and feelings.

My most memorable moment working at the EOYDC was in October of 2005. I live in San Francisco, which has a dwindling Black population. I had just returned from a trip I had taken to Ghana, for a photography exhibition I participated in. I had stayed in West Africa about a month total. Fortunately for me, my supervisors and co-workers at the EOYDC are very understanding of scheduling changes, and the demands of my career as a photographer. On a side note, people at other non-profits are not always so reasonable and flexible. So I returned from Ghana and after spending the previous day in Harlem, returned to the culture shock of S.F. I felt like an outsider. No one looked like me, talked like me, or walked like me. The music was very different, as were the other sounds, sights and smells. It felt like an alien environment.  Fortunately I had to come to work that day, at the EOYDC. As soon as I walked through east Oakland, I felt more relaxed and at peace, as if maybe California was, actually my home. That feeling was solidified being around my students when I came in the center and having a few of them declare that next time I went to Africa, they should be allowed to go too.

Bayeté Ross-Smith, Photography Instructor