Photography, Faith and the Art of Seeing # 22
 
This year Ready for the Road Ahead is taking on a new direction.  It is one that follows the grand theme of sight in all aspects which runs throughout Scripture.  My weekly writings will be excerpts from a book of the same name which should be published (Lord willing) later this year.

            Bonnie Lusted never reached the celebrity of Ansel Adams but she made a greater impact on me than Ansel did- although I truly admire his work.  I had joined an on-line photo site as a means to take my mind off the loss of my teaching position.  As I became more involved with the site I was also introduced to photographers all over the world.  Bonnie was one of those photographers.  One day she posted a picture of an onion which had been sliced through the middle.  Instead of taking the shot with the onion center stage and sitting on a plate, Bonnie had come in tight and close so that what you saw was the curved lines of the layers and the color of the skin in an organic curved pattern.  In that one shot Bonnie taught me to look carefully at the simple but mundane things around me.  They were hidden pieces of art waiting to be captured by the camera.  Thanks to Bonnie, that trait became a signature of many of my photos.  Adams may have impacted thousands, but Bonnie was the photographer who most impacted me.  I may have never seen an actual portrait of her, but I clearly saw Bonnie in every picture she took.

            If there was ever a Biblical figure who was concerned about leaving a legacy or making an impact on his world, that person would be Solomon.  1 Kings 4:29-34 records that God gave Solomon an immense amount of wisdom and practical knowledge.  In this passage the writer acknowledges Solomon’s prolific amount of acumen by recording that he spoke 3,000 proverbs and composed over 1,000 songs that covered topics such as trees and animals as accurately as a botanist or zoologist.  The bulk of the Scriptures that we attribute to wisdom, Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes were penned by him.  But does Solomon’s lasting portrait, his legacy, always depict him as a wise person?  Sadly it does not.

            What began as a life dedicated to following God’s ways and seeking His guidance to lead the people of Israel gave way to the influence of his culture when he married foreign wives to secure the kingdom.  In spite of God’s warning, (1 Kin. 9:1-9) over the course of time Solomon appears to have accumulated as many wives and concubines as the proverbs he wrote and the Biblical writers are quick to point out that these alliances caused Solomon to make compromises in order to appease the women he collected (1 Kin. 11:1-13).  His change of heart and attitude are the most obvious in the book of Ecclesiastes- a poetical book which is attributed to him in the latter years of his life.  Gone is the hopefulness and trust of his youth and in its stead is an almost bitter and caustic appraisal of life and what people traditionally value as a means to a happy and blessed existence but in the end fall short of providing either.  It is a rather grim portrait of a man who started his rule with such high expectations.

            Solomon may be one of the grander individuals to cross the pages of Scripture but there is a figure in Scripture who has made an even greater impact on me not by what she said, but in what she did.  Dorcas is first introduced to us as a “certain disciple” (Acts 9:36-42).  Dorcas is set forth as an example of what a true disciple looks like and the effect a disciple can make in the lives of those around them.  There is no picture of her social status or family, or even her means of income (as compared to Lydia in Acts 16:14).  The picture is left obscure on purpose so that her life-style is highlighted not her life.
            It is a sobering thought that the way we live is a portrait of Christ to a world that does not know Him.  But the portrait of Dorcas in Acts 9 demonstrates to us that sharing the Gospel does not always involve words.  This is illustrated in the well-known Parable of the Sheep and Goats in which Christ tells His disciples that there will be a sorting of sorts at the end of the age (Mt. 25:31-46).  Keith Green masterfully retold the parable in song finishing with this succinct but accurate summary of Christ’s words, “And my friends, the only difference between the sheep and the goats according to this Scripture is what they did and didn’t do!”  How do we make sure we are an accurate portrait of Christ?  Solomon wrote, “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person” (Ecc. 12:13).  Dorcas lived this and made a difference.  The way she lived out God’s commands reminds us that you and I may be the only portrait of Christ that someone sees.  What does that portrait look like?

Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.
https://www.annhlefevre.com; Olivetreeann@mail.com; https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhlefevre; https://www.facebook.com/ann.h.lefevre

Photography, Faith, and the Art of Seeing #21
 
This year Ready for the Road Ahead is taking on a new direction.  It is one that follows the grand theme of sight in all aspects which runs throughout Scripture.  My weekly writings will be excerpts from a book of the same name which should be published (Lord willing) later this year.
 
            Our granddaughter Leigh was known as a “rule-bender” in her early days.  She’s always been very competitive and like most children she didn’t like losing.  So if there was even the slightest hint that she might lose whatever game she was playing, she’d change the rules midstream to give herself the advantage.  I’m not sure why people in general have a tough time sticking to the rules and constantly try to bend them.  Maybe we have difficulties with rules because of a selfish nature or the impression that the world revolves around what we want, what we think, and how we think life should always go the way we’ve planned it.  The current climate of our culture certainly feeds that point of view.  Although I think this aversion to rules goes much deeper.  I think it goes all the way back to the Fall.  At some point in that pristine garden Adam and Eve, much like Leigh, decided they didn’t like God’s rule so that when the Serpent suggested an alternative “rule”, they exercised their will and broke the God-given one.  The boundaries set by rules are not limited to life.  In life they work as a guide for successful living- both physically and mentally.  In art they work to give a picture a sense of balance and produce a thoughtful experience. 

            The most well-known of these “rules” is The Rule of Thirds.  This compositional standard applies to every visual format; not just photography.  The Rule of Thirds evenly divides your picture into nine squares by overlaying an imaginary grid of two horizontal and two vertical lines on the picture plane.  According to the rule placing your subject at any one of the four spots where the lines intersect will have more visual appeal to your viewer than if you placed your subject in the center of one of the squares produced by the lines of the grid.  Some of the most innovative and creative photographers follow compositional rules like the Rule of Thirds but their skill makes this basic rule virtually unnoticeable.  Instead of stifling the creative process compositional rules support your creativity.  They enhance creativity rather than hinder it much like “life rules” protect rather than restrict the ability to live life to its fullest.

            I have the pleasure of belonging to two photographic communities- my local photo club and an on-line site (365project.org) which has participants from all over the world.  The idea of this site is to post a picture each day- a photographic diary of your life.  It always seems that when someone decides to “break the rules” on 365 they are compelled to apologize for this decision whereupon another photographer will offer these encouraging words to release them of their “guilt”, “Don’t worry!  It’s your project; your rules! Do what works best for you.”  That may work for The 365 Project, but it doesn’t work with God.  God’s rules, as presented in Leviticus and Deuteronomy are fixed and everlasting, but that doesn’t mean they cannot be adapted to life.  The pithy sayings of Proverbs help to demonstrate a number of ways the laws listed in Leviticus and Deuteronomy can be applied to life.  Through short and direct wording they sum up a truth based on experience and observation.  The main thrust of these witty sayings is for the hearer to acquire wisdom.  According to the Bible, wisdom is the necessary skill that one must have in order to live a godly life and to make godly choices (Prov. 2:1-6).  Proverbs are an effective teaching tool just like the Rule of Thirds is a great asset to a picture.  Even Jesus used them (Mt. 2:27; 6:21; 7:13).

            I have discovered that I am much better at following a plan or routine when I want to accomplish a goal and I’m better off making a list of what I need to accomplish if I want to get anything completed around my home.  I think I like the “black and white” aspect of those self-imposed rules.  But there are days when I have to adjust my routine or alter my list because “life” is not always on the same schedule as I am!  I have to make decisions based on what is feasible and what is necessary so that I’m pleased with the way things turned out at the end of the day.  This is true in the artistic sense as well just as it is with faith.  Deciding the right placement of my subject is like deciding what will be most God-honoring in the way I live.  Just as the rules of composition enhance the beauty of a picture, making wise decisions in favor of God’s rules enhances rather than inhibits life (1 Cor. 10:31; Col. 3:17).  Proverbs illustrates that my best decisions will always favor on the side of the “rules”.  Photographically speaking, Proverbs is the way your life picture looks with the Rule of Thirds in action (Prov. 2:1-22).
Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.

https://www.annhlefevre.com; Olivetreeann@mail.com; https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhlefevre; https://www.facebook.com/ann.h.lefevre

This year Ready for the Road Ahead is taking on a new direction.  It is one that follows the grand theme of sight in all aspects which runs throughout Scripture.  My weekly writings will be excerpts from a book of the same name which should be published (Lord willing) later this year.
 
            It happens to every photographer.  You choose the location- one that you’ve never been to before and will probably never get to again.  You check the weather.  You save the date.  But when you arrive at your scenic location on that chosen day, the sun has decided not to cooperate after all and the sky is gray and filled with clouds.  Should you give up, pack your gear and call it a day?  Absolutely not!  The unexpected weather provides a different photo opportunity.  It’s simply a matter of adjusting the type of photo you’d planned to take to the type of photo you can take.  A good photographer will select a genre suitable to the scene before him/her instead of abandoning a shot because the weather does not suit the shot which was planned ahead of time.  A genre is a category of artistic composition (mostly in the arts such as literature, music, and of course photography) which is characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.  A concise list compiled by Craig Hull on Expertphotography.com had 47 genres that included favorites such as black and white, macro, fine art, infrared, landscapes and wildlife.

            When you read through the Book of Psalms it’s obvious that they too fall into categories (i.e. genres).  The overall book is like a collection of musical pieces, but instead of one composer, there are several and only the lyrics have survived.  The Book of Psalms can be divided into five smaller collections: Book 1 (Ps. 1-41), Book 2 (Ps. 42-72), Book 3 (Ps.73-89), Book 4 (Ps. 90-106), and Book 5 (Ps. 107-150).  Within these collections are psalms that recognize God’s sovereignty, talk about the trials and struggles of life and present a new outlook on life after a tumultuous ordeal.  A noteworthy aspect of the Psalms is that although many psalms are addressed to God and cover a number of life experiences, some are directed toward the people, meaning that these songs, as well as the struggles of life, were to be experienced within the worship community.

            There have certainly been times in my life when I would have preferred to see the picture I was expecting to see rather than to switch genres and learn to see a different kind of beauty in the view before me.  I am not sure when I was first introduced to the words of Psalm 90:12, but I know I was in my teens.  What intrigued me about this psalm at the time was the idea that days could be “numbered”.  But something struck a chord within my soul and from that time on I understood that life was precious and unpredictable.  Now years later as I ponder the idea of genres as an approach to life I’m seeing that this has been the way I have operated for a long time.  I think of how Jeff and I “planned” to have children after we’d been married 5 years.  That didn’t happen- we became parents much sooner!  But the two unexpected gifts of our sons have filled my life with such joy and even more so now that they have children of their own.  Grandchildren- I never imagined I’d have 6 of them when Erick was born!  I think about how my plans to become a librarian were cut short by the birth of my second son but how bartering for his education in a small Christian school placed me in charge of the school’s library and made me an amateur librarian!  I think about how a phone call to a radio show which aired on Saturday mornings from a college campus ended up putting me on the air with a third-class radio license in hand filling in for the DJ I called when he was in a serious car accident.  I think about how an advertisement in a magazine called “Israel My Glory” led me to a year of studies which I still refer to as “my year of heaven” and my first trip to Israel.  I think about one friend’s love of travel which enabled me to travel from one side of the country to the other and all the traveling adventures I shared with my sons as one of the original “soccer moms” back in their school days.  I think about a job in a Christian Bookstore that led me to a seminary degree and how the love of a dear friend sent me soaring in a hot air balloon one year- a bucket list dream I never expected to happen at all came true thanks to her.  I hadn’t planned on a lot of these events but when the view wasn’t what I’d planned for, shifting the genre brought me some of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had.  My days have been numbered in ways I never counted on, but with every shift of genre life has taught me to keep my eyes fixed on the One who is the Author and Perfecter of my faith and helped me to recognize He has put these events in my life so that I can more clearly see Him (Heb. 12:1-2).

Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.
https://www.annhlefevre.com; Olivetreeann@mail.com; https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhlefevre; https://www.facebook.com/ann.h.lefevre