Coming into this month, I expected to be writing more, not less. With my school schedule relaxing a bit, I figured I would have all the time in the world to get cranking on some new posts. And I would have been right too, had I not stumbled into a new hobby that has been occupying much of my time recently: photography. Just before Christmas I bought a shiny new Panasonic Lumix LX-5, took it for a test run on a trip to New York City, and haven’t been able to put it down since. Can’t say I was really expecting that one.
I never really thought of myself as a photography guy. I mean, I like nice photos as much as the next guy, but it just never seemed like my gig. Plus, some of those nicer cameras look to be roughly the size of a baby koala, and carrying around something that big all day long sounds incredibly tedious to me. But after buying a smaller camera, practicing a little and discovering the magic of Adobe Lightroom, I’m beginning to come around. And I think I'm beginning to understand photography in ways I didn't before.
Fundamentally, photography is attempting to do what all good art attempts to do: tell the truth. Have you ever seen something really beautiful and tried to take a picture of it, but the picture didn’t do justice to the scene? You didn’t like the picture because it doesn’t capture the essence, the realness of the thing you were shooting. Now, have you ever seen a really amazing photograph, one that gets the color of the sky just right or catches a person laughing that really genuine kind of laugh? You like that picture because it gets the essence stuff right. We say the picture is beautiful because on some level or another, it’s true. We usually understand this on a subliminal level because it sounds kind of weird to talk about photography being all about looking for truth, but that’s what it amounts to in the end. Photography is not just about taking a picture to make sure an event is documented; it’s about trying to get the best photo that taps into the really real part of someone or something.
In just a month’s time, my eyes have been opened. If you’re looking to reconnect with God’s world and God’s people, perhaps it might do you some good to try picking up a camera and go searching for truth where it’s waiting to be found.
(Shameless Plug: if you’re a photography person, you can check out some of my stuff over on Flickr. Your comments are appreciated!)
Dominick! I checked out your flickr and I love your eye! As the weather gets warmer let's go out and have a shoot out...just go somewhere and see who can get the better shot! :) It is not only fun but it challenges each photographer to see things differently. Glad you can see a little of the passion I have for what I do and part of the reason why I do it.
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