"Receive the Light..."
In Roman Catholic baptismal liturgies, after the baptized have come out of the water they receive a lighted candle. This is an option in the Episcopal and Lutheran liturgies, as well. It is a beautiful symbol and a rich ritual.
A godparent lights the candle from the Easter candle and hands it to the newly baptized or her parents. The presider says to the neophyte (the newly baptized): "You have been enlightened by Christ. Walk always as children of the light and keep the flame of faith alive in your hearts." Doing photography as a spiritual practice likewise invites participants to "walk always as children of the light." This small-group process is designed, in part, to help us "children of the light" to "keep the flame of faith alive" in our hearts. We can best do this in the midst of the community of the baptized. As Christians, we can think of our doing photography as part of our calling to be a servant of the one who is Light from Light. In practicing this art together, perhaps over time we can learn to be and to receive the light. I found this insight in a wonderful little book that is part of series on justice and peace-building from Good Books, a cooperative effort between the publisher and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding of Eastern Mennonite University. |
In The Little Book of Contemplative Photography: Seeing with wonder, respect, and humility by Howard Zehr (Intercourse PA: Good Books, 2005), the author offers an alternative way of viewing the act of doing photography. He points out how so many of the words used around photography -- shoot, take, aim, snapshot -- are "predominantly aggressive" and "militaristic":
Cameras often are designed to be held in front of the face like a mask. The camera's lens protrudes, aiming at the subject like a weapon. If not a weapon, the camera and lens blocking the photographer's face often look like an intrusive, voyeuristic eye. No wonder people -- including many photographers -- are often so uncomfortable in front of a camera. (14) Zehr points out that "this metaphor of taking an image does not accurately reflect the photographic process."
When we photograph, we do not actually reach out and take anything. A camera is basically a dark box with a receptor (film or digital sensor) on one side and a small opening on another. Light reflected from the subject is projected through the opening by the lens onto the image opposite it. When we do photography, we receive an image that is reflected from the subject. Instead of photography as taking, then, we can envision it as receiving, Instead of a trophy that is hunted, an image is a gift. (16) |
Zehr recommends that we learn to do photography as "more like a meditation or a spiritual discipline," that we change the "lens" of our imaginations so we can receive the light. To help us convert our vision of the act of photography, he suggests an exercise during which we do not look through the viewfinder or watch the LCD screen.
Make a series of photographs without looking through the viewfinder. Using autofocus or manual focus...Hold [your camera] at chest or waist level, perhaps at the end of the strap. Direct the camera toward something you want to photograph and try to visualize what the camera is "seeing," but do not look through the viewfinder. As you photograph, imagine that the photograph is receiving the image. Make photographs of inanimate subjects but also of people in some kind of activity. Journal about the experience and the resulting images. (19) Christine Valters Paintner picks up on this idea in her book, Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice (Notre Dame IN: Sorin Books, 2013):
"Taking" photos with the head is often an act of analysis or grasping, as when we try to capture an image or make on that is aesthetically pleasing. "Receiving" photos with the heart is an experience of grace and revelation, an encounter with the sacred. (19) Next time we go out with our camera, what difference might it make if we were to imagine that we are receiving the gift of light?
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