Monday, January 21, 2008

On non-violence









A Colorado lawmaker kicked a Rocky Mountain News photographer for taking his picture during the daily opening prayer. You can read the story here and see video here. You can say the story caught my attention.


The project that I am working on involves a Christian paint ball park. When I read about it I was drawn to the concept of trying to visually capture the, in my mind at least, contradiction. Weapons of any kind, competition, vanquishing are all outside my understanding of Christianity. When I took a few prints to a critique a few weeks ago one of the participants asked why I hadn't photographed the players being lead in prayer at the start of the day. I had given it a lot of thought. First, I couldn't think of a way to make a still photo (as opposed to video) that would in any way communicate prayer. It isn't as if they were kneeling, bowing, prostrating themselves. An image of an individual or group with their eyes closed titled Prayer didn't work for me. Second, and this was the deal breaker. It just didn't feel right. I was welcomed and had been allowed full access to make pictures. I didn't feel that I could intrude on their intimate moment regardless of my personal convictions.


I am not a photojournalist. It is not my job to get news. I have the luxury to shoot if and what I want. I just find it interesting to have the Colorado story come up as I am sorting my thoughts about my own experience. Now I wonder if I had tried to get a picture, would I have been kicked?
Posted by at 7:17 PM

2 comments:

  1. That Rep. Bruce doesn't find his actions at odds with his (and my) avowed religion is truly bizarre. I'd like to hear his rationale for objecting to the photographing of people in prayer. I can't imagine the Biblical basis for that stance. And then to enact physical violence for the perceived wrong likewise appears to be unChristian.

    What's your background is in terms of your relation to Christianity? You say weapons, competition and vanquishing are all outside your understanding of the religion, but all these things are referred to and used as metaphors in the New Testament and are routinely referenced in certain Christian denominations and traditions, so they don't seem so out of place to me, though they do often represent tough contradictions for adherents to resolve (though they are frequently left unexamined, unfortunately.)
    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for commenting. My personal history was strongly weighted toward non-violence as taught by my father, a man with a Master of Divinity as well as a Master of Theology. I agree that even the New Testament addresses righting wrongs; but again my background focused on tolerance, forgiveness, and turning the other cheek. Eschewing physical agression for spiritual persuasion. I cannot say which is "right" and am certainly not naive enough to think that there are not many understandings of biblical, as well as Christian teachings. I can only speak from my experience while maintaining my curiosity about other ways of seeing.
    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)