Photography and Faith Part II

Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken, a hymn from the Episcopal hymnal, immediately had me reflecting on photography and faith. Written by John Newton (1725-1807) with music by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), this old standard is quite visual in its teaching. For example, "...on the Rock of Ages founded, what can shake thy sure repose?" - I could not help but think of the rocky coast of Maine.

"See! the streams of

living waters, springing

from eternal love....."

"Who can faint when

such a river, ever will

their thirst assuage?....."

"See the cloud and fire appear for a glory and a covering....."

Silver Eye Appearance Announcement

Exhibiting Photographers Speak Thursday, September 3, 7:00 p.m. Join contributing photographers from Self Portrait: Silver Eye at 30 for a discussion of their experiences and inspirations for these photographs. The photographers featured are: Karen Antonelli, Sandra M. Moore, John A. Fobes, Shirleah Kelly, Michael Rosella, Ruthanne F. Bauerle, Malgorzata Mosied, Lori Hepner, Bernie Peace, and Tim Doyle. Admission is free.

Image of the Week

Iowa Corn Field and Silos

I just spent five great days on the road with my friend, Lynne, and her dog, Walker. We headed west to pick up another dog and saw the most wonderful countryside en route and back. It is amazing how much corn and soybeans are planted across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. The weather was perfect and the people were wonderful!

Image of the Week

Wildflowers in Potter County

Wildflowers are great. They just sprout 'wildly' with abandon and when you try to arrange them, they do it themselves. The Queen Anne's Lace stands nobly, the yarrow bows and the daisies stand at attention.

With background softened by the porch screen and mountain fog, the flowers stand out in a jar unearthed from the ancestral garbage dump near the old outhouse. So many gems combined!

Happy Anniversary, Woodstock!

Merriconeag Yachting Association Boat House and Dock, 2008

What a celebration over last weekend - the WSJ and NYT reminisced, VH1 Classic ran a documentary and XM Radio devoted a station, number 40, to Woodstock. I don't know about you, but for me, last weekend had many 'Where were you during Woodstock?' moments. In case you were wondering, I was in Harpswell, ME visiting my mother's family. Cousins were bountiful among the three sisters and the three 15 year-olds, of which I was one in 1969, were very anxious to be older that summer. Army jackets, bare feet, cigarette and beer sneaking were the norm as we hung out at the local yacht club. On Sunday morning, we discovered an older cousin asleep on the club couch after hitchhiking home from Woodstock. Although trying to be older that summer, I had no real understanding about the event and its historic and cultural significance. I was more interested in the box of Dunkin Doughnuts he picked up on the way than any of my cousin's tales!

Image of the (Last) Week

A Boy and His Kayak

Family vacation - 2009. Short and sweet, but rainy. Trying to take advantage of the moist situation, I shot the fog, rushing creek and puddle reflections. Occasional clear nights allowed bonfires and moonlit excursions. Fresh air, spring water and unique bird sightings rounded out a splendid time.

Seminar Reunion

Last evening, Peter, Ruth and I had a double reunion of sorts at the opening reception for Along These Rivers at Carnegie Library. Having taken the blogging seminar together, it was fun to reunite at an exhibit in which we were all included. In the picture above, we are standing in front of Peter's images.

Image(s) of the Week

Several weeks ago, I enjoyed a tour of an old, historic Fox Chapel home with a high school class mate of mine. We hadn't seen each other in ages, so it was fun to catch up and shoot around the area he grew up. We photographed bamboo, different, but now natural to the area, the pond, the barn and things stowed away over the years. The bottles certainly caught our attention as they caught the light through the barn window.

Collections seem to be the trend for the images these first two weeks. Perhaps next week it will be a different topic.

Photography and Faith

On July 28th, John Craig posted on his facebook page, "let's talk about photography & faith...anybody interested?" Two others and I are interested in such a discussion with John.

I thought that posting several photographs motivated by my faith would be a good beginning. I often see physical representations of my belief in nature, such as heaven and angels. I also think that forests were the first blueprints of cathedrals.

Perhaps these views came to me genetically - my mother rarely felt comfortable with organized religion. She always said that nature was her church.

Heaven Breaks Through

Cathedral

Angels Linger Above