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02/08/2011 12:22:39 AM · #1
Some thoughts I've had floating around for awhile which I finally decided to put into writing.

God and Photography

Message edited by author 2011-02-08 00:25:56.
02/08/2011 12:58:41 AM · #2
How incredibly beautiful, Judy. I feel very much the same way, and feel that when I allow The Flow, I am directed to an image that I would never have found on my own. Beautifully written. Thank you.
02/08/2011 07:39:19 AM · #3
Lovely set of meditations, Judy. Thanks for sharing.

R.
02/08/2011 07:48:54 AM · #4
I followed your advice, and wound up with a photo of a dog... but then again I'm dyslexic ;-)
02/08/2011 08:06:56 AM · #5
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Lovely set of meditations, Judy. Thanks for sharing.

R.


Ditto - well put together...
02/08/2011 10:05:09 AM · #6
Well said and well written.
02/08/2011 10:31:58 AM · #7
Left me speechless and teary eyed. Thank you. :-)
02/08/2011 10:59:31 AM · #8
Enjoyed it Judy. I always feel like my photography is communion with God too.
02/08/2011 11:40:59 AM · #9
A different view.
02/08/2011 06:54:47 PM · #10
Originally posted by jpochard:

Some thoughts I've had floating around for awhile which I finally decided to put into writing.

God and Photography


Beautifully written and thoughtfully composed. You wear your faith well. Thanks.

May I add a "lesson?"

With our powerful cameras, it is easy to affect a "camera arrogance." My camera is bigger, better, faster, ..., than yours. My DSLR is better than your point-and-shoot. My 12 megapixels are better than your 8. I've been hit over the head a few times recently with the lesson that the camera you have with you is the "best camera in the world." Without it, the subject that shouts, "Shoot me." will remain unshot. Serendipity that surrounds us will be unrecorded.

I suspect it might work the same way with God. It may be easy to affect a "religious arrogance." "My God is better than yours." "My beliefs are truer than yours." "My church is more opulent than yours." Whereas, in fact, whatever God we believe in might be the best God in the world, for us, at that time. The Gods we choose might be just the right Gods for us at that moment. I don't mean to be disrespectful ... but really does it matter if we're devoutly Christian, devoutly Hindu, devoutly Islamic? Are any of these choices likely to be more true than being devoutly Nikon, Canon, ...? Just as a love of photography transcends camera models, does devoutness transcend the choice of religion? If being devout improves our relationship with each other, with the community of man, with God ... does it matter our devoutness flavor of choice?

Maybe I think too much. Peace.
02/08/2011 07:31:06 PM · #11
Originally posted by Louis:

A different view.


Yes.
02/08/2011 07:31:35 PM · #12
Originally posted by Dr.Confuser:

... does it matter our devoutness flavor of choice?

Maybe I think too much. Peace.


No, you don't... and no, it should not matter.
I read, carefully, Judy's words, and though I am not at all religious (consider me a "devout" atheist), I found them to ring true. In most places, replace "God" with "Nature" and her words are just as true, just as powerful - and they remain so, whatever personal frame of reference we interpret them from.
02/08/2011 07:36:24 PM · #13
Originally posted by kirbic:

Originally posted by Dr.Confuser:

... does it matter our devoutness flavor of choice?

Maybe I think too much. Peace.


No, you don't... and no, it should not matter.
I read, carefully, Judy's words, and though I am not at all religious (consider me a "devout" atheist), I found them to ring true. In most places, replace "God" with "Nature" and her words are just as true, just as powerful - and they remain so, whatever personal frame of reference we interpret them from.


My thoughts exactly.
02/08/2011 07:38:23 PM · #14
Originally posted by Louis:

A different view.


How strange. I think only those who don't believe in God would think that "that being encumbered by gods diminishes the experience of it [nature] for people". It completely and totally enhances it for me.

To each his own. I'm glad that, either way, people are as awed by nature as I am.

Message edited by author 2011-02-08 19:39:11.
02/08/2011 07:47:58 PM · #15
Originally posted by vawendy:

Originally posted by Louis:

A different view.


How strange. I think only those who don't believe in God would think that "that being encumbered by gods diminishes the experience of it [nature] for people". It completely and totally enhances it for me.

To each his own. I'm glad that, either way, people are as awed by nature as I am.


Well yes... precisely! We have completely different viewpoints. We atheists just don't completely comprehend how those of faith can choose to ascribe our physical world to what seems to us as arbitrary acts of some unseen higher being, when there are rational, science-based explanations. And those of faith just look at us and ask how we can possibly not believe, with all the abundant "evidence" around us! And ne'er the twain shall meet, LOL.
02/08/2011 07:51:47 PM · #16
Awe-some... Really well put. I loved the photos that went with the words.
02/08/2011 08:00:47 PM · #17
Originally posted by kirbic:

Originally posted by vawendy:

Originally posted by Louis:

A different view.


How strange. I think only those who don't believe in God would think that "that being encumbered by gods diminishes the experience of it [nature] for people". It completely and totally enhances it for me.

To each his own. I'm glad that, either way, people are as awed by nature as I am.


Well yes... precisely! We have completely different viewpoints. We atheists just don't completely comprehend how those of faith can choose to ascribe our physical world to what seems to us as arbitrary acts of some unseen higher being, when there are rational, science-based explanations. And those of faith just look at us and ask how we can possibly not believe, with all the abundant "evidence" around us! And ne'er the twain shall meet, LOL.


The funny thing is -- I believe in both. I have no problem believing in God and evolution. So I have the best of both worlds. :D
02/08/2011 08:22:47 PM · #18
Reason for Not Writing Orthodox Nature Poetry

The January sky is deep and calm.
The mountain sprawls in comfort, and the sea
Sleeps in the crook of that enormous arm.

And Nature from a simple recipe–
Rocks, water mist, a sunlit winter's day–
Has brewed a cup whose strength has dizzied me.

So little beauty is enough to pay:
The heart so soon yields up its store of love,
And where you love you cannot break away.

So sages never found it hard to prove
Nor prophets to declare in metaphor
That God and Nature must be hand in glove.

And this became the basis of their lore.
Then later poets found it easy going
To give the public what they bargained for,

And like a spectacled curator showing
The wares of his museum to the crowd,
They yearly waxed more eloquent and knowing,

More slick, more photographic, and more proud:
From Tennyson with notebook in his hand
(His truth to Nature fits him like a shroud)

To moderns who devoutly hymn the land.
So be it: each is welcome to his voice;
They are a gentle, if a useless, band.

But leave me free to make a sterner choice;
Content, without embellishment, to note
How little beauty bids the heart rejoice,

How little beauty catches at the throat.
Simply, I love this mountain and this bay
With love that I can never speak by rote,

And where you love you cannot break away.

— John Wain

Message edited by author 2011-02-08 23:21:54.
02/08/2011 08:50:38 PM · #19
Originally posted by kirbic:

Originally posted by Dr.Confuser:

... does it matter our devoutness flavor of choice?

Maybe I think too much. Peace.


No, you don't... and no, it should not matter.
I read, carefully, Judy's words, and though I am not at all religious (consider me a "devout" atheist), I found them to ring true. In most places, replace "God" with "Nature" and her words are just as true, just as powerful - and they remain so, whatever personal frame of reference we interpret them from.


I'm glad that not just Christians can enjoy the message. Nothing most people haven't given thought to at some time or another. No great revelation, just an exercise for me to put my own thoughts into words.

Funny that you mention acknowledging God or gods getting in the way of enjoying the moment at hand or fully appreciating both the tangible and intangible beauty and goodness of things and moments. For myself, in some instances searching for an angle or photo opportunity allows me to see something I might otherwise have missed -but I have also realized that not every perfect scene or moment must be captured on film. I have found the camera to be a distraction from living the moment on more than one occassion. It becomes a compulsion to remember with the camera instead of the soul and I'm learning to give that up when it seems appropriate.
02/08/2011 10:27:23 PM · #20
Looking through the viewfinder does this for me. Everything else disappears.
02/08/2011 10:32:39 PM · #21
Robert, that is a stunningly beautiful piece of poetry, of which I was unaware until moments ago. Thank you!
02/08/2011 11:23:35 PM · #22
Originally posted by kirbic:

Robert, that is a stunningly beautiful piece of poetry, of which I was unaware until moments ago. Thank you!


YW. There was a typo in 3rd verse, now corrected. I've had that poem in memory for 40 years :-)

R.
02/09/2011 10:27:18 PM · #23
Originally posted by kirbic:

Robert, that is a stunningly beautiful piece of poetry, of which I was unaware until moments ago. Thank you!


I second that.
02/10/2011 04:01:59 AM · #24
Originally posted by vawendy:

Originally posted by kirbic:

Originally posted by vawendy:

Originally posted by Louis:

A different view.


How strange. I think only those who don't believe in God would think that "that being encumbered by gods diminishes the experience of it [nature] for people". It completely and totally enhances it for me.

To each his own. I'm glad that, either way, people are as awed by nature as I am.


Well yes... precisely! We have completely different viewpoints. We atheists just don't completely comprehend how those of faith can choose to ascribe our physical world to what seems to us as arbitrary acts of some unseen higher being, when there are rational, science-based explanations. And those of faith just look at us and ask how we can possibly not believe, with all the abundant "evidence" around us! And ne'er the twain shall meet, LOL.


The funny thing is -- I believe in both. I have no problem believing in God and evolution. So I have the best of both worlds. :D


To be fair, Science is much more than evolution. It's a methodology, one that requires testable ideas that can be disproven. Religion is quite the opposite, it's a system of indoctrination that relies upon ideas that cannot be disproven. I'm not sure I'll ever believe anyone who says they believe in both.
02/17/2011 03:32:25 PM · #25
Judy...I'm so happy you posted this thread. Your article touches upon profound and deeply held principles.

Recently, I shared with one of my Metrolink train buddies that I had taken up yoga in an effort to infuse my life (and photography, of course!) with a higher sense of energy and connection. He suggested (very politely) that perhaps I should go to church.

Well, you know, yoga isn't exactly a religion (or is it?!), but I had to bow out of the religious discussion as a sole resource for higher connectivity. My personal philosophy (and I don't really have an established one) is that if the road to a higher place of energy and connection is scientific, Christian, Hindu or...Martian...isn't the important point that we arrive at the critical point at all?

What I enjoy about photography is the universality of the creative process.

Well that's my two cents...;-)

Message edited by author 2011-02-17 15:34:06.
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