Clearing the Haze

So I spent a ton of time updating parts of my portfolio yesterday. Lot’s of new or updated shots in the World section of my portfolio. I have more people, travel and food work to add too. I’ll hopefully get that stuff up tomorrow and you can see what I’ve been up to lately.

I have been reading a lot lately as well. Good books. Heavy words. Things to live by.

Today has been a hazy day where I just feel out of it. Maybe I’m tired. Maybe there are too many intense conversations going on at once. Or maybe it’s time to try to simplify life.

Oh yea! The reason I started writing this in the first place. Photography. Art. Creation. Storytelling.

Connecting the dots between people, and stories to create life. It’s why I get up in the morning.

Beyond all of that I’ve been pondering how people take photos and what they look like. It’s a technology issue as much as it is a decision about art vs. a product. Some photographers I know shoot because they love to, and the images show that passion. Others shoot for money, or for I don’t know what. And you can tell. Some people shoot what’s popular and looks good right now. It’s what is in. What someone will print in a magazine or slap on a book cover. Other people shoot because they want to create something powerful, an image that speaks, to tell a story.

So why do you do what you do?

“There are many photographs which are full of life but which are confusing and difficult to remember. It is the force of an image which matters.” -Brassai

Not the way things are supposed to be

This is not how life is supposed to be. But there’s a glimmer of hope.

Life is often filled with pain and heartache. Things are not always easy. There would be no joy without sorrow. But sometimes there is pain dished out in such a way that you can’t help but wonder why, what the purpose in it will become, what will come from this in the end.

A young girl passed away Thursday morning from an accident during a Christmas production at Crossroads. This is heart wrenching for an infinite number of reasons. It is frightening to think of the way those who do not know Crossroads or Keri might react. Of how this could hurt them. It is like a right hook to the jaw to think of what her family must be going through right now, how her friends and classmates must feel.

Bec & I met her Monday night at dress rehearsal. Talked with her. Laughed. It wasn’t long, five or ten minutes at most. But you could tell that she was filled with joy, so excited to be a part of God’s story, to be a part of this production. Bec wrote about it here.

Keri’s part as a wiseman was incredible. It opened our eyes to a new part of this story that we’ve missed out on for years. How could we have missed this!? And how sad that  this loss is when we finally saw what God has wanted to speak through this story for so long. The wisemen gave up everything, to follow, a star. A freaking star. That is not an easy task. They move you know, and you have no idea when you are actually going to get where this star is going. But they gave up everything they had, to follow this star, because they felt like they had to. It was their story, their journey. 

The glimmer of hope? Keri died doing something she LOVED. Not something she liked a little bit, or something she felt obligated to do, or dreaded. She was filled with joy to be a part of this. It is her story. And that is what God wants for us. To be filled with joy. To follow our star.

I shot this photo of Keri on Monday at dress rehearsal. It was published in the Cincinnati Enquirer, on the front page. It is the first photo I have ever had published, and it is not what I wanted to come from these snaps. Not at all. But it was beautiful. And that’s what this is about.

Story
Beauty
Redemption 
Brokenness
Healing.