the road, originally uploaded by jon….

There’s this thing that people have, about imagery many times; that there’s a difference between taking pictures just for taking them and taking pictures “that mean something”.

I’ve been getting a bit of freedom from some revelations i’m having about our part in providing meaning. We have this thing as humans, thinking that there’s this ONE MAGIC MOMENT where everything JUST COMES TOGETHER IN LIFE. well it happens sometimes, sometimes it doesn’t. Most of the time, life happens, and we live it, and things become illuminated, one venture at a time. I used to stress a bit about my images meaning something. Well, i’m beginning to realize (yep no surprise: it wasn’t in One Grand Moment, although there was one moment that seemed to be more intense than the others, but i’m still making sense of this, bear with me:) that i’m free to exist, i’m free to simply obey God at every point possible, and, in the end, really only *he* provides the meaning to anything. period (for you nonbelievers out there, i propose that anytime you’re illuminated with meaning, or see anything “good”, that’s from God too…you just may not be able to recognize it as such (can you tell i’ve been reading Velvet Elvis lately? ;-) (can you tell by my free use of parenths i’ve dabbled in LISP? :)

A bit presumtuous of me to think that i’m changing someone’s life through my imagery–i’m to just do what i’m supposed to do, and yeah, “moments” will come, but many times, thing will appear plain. I think much of life appears plain ‘cos God’s showing us that it’s possible for *anyone* to do the “extraordinary”…because many times it’s through the accumulation of “normal” things that end up getting distilled into a story of a life that was “extraordinary”. Much of Christ’s life seemed to be “waiting”, or at least “living”…We definitely don’t have much record of a big chunk of his pre-ministry life. But when you read the story, does it seem extraordinary or what?

at any rate, what i’m trying to say is that i take pictures, and i don’t sweat, nor do i care if people think my subject matter, or what i capture is frivolous or not. In fact, i’m beginning to not care anymore. I’m shooting, but more importantly, trying to seek God in life…i’m satisfied with the extraordinary becoming a side effect of obedience.

The question of purpose in imagery (or hell, nearly everything else) has been batted about in various vocations since the beginning of time. Maybe it has a lot to do with people still missing the mark and trying to find meaning in what they do, instead of in reflecting the Creator? i mean that thing, reflecting the Creator, i would suppose, should be the CENTER, and the residual would be that meaning Just Happens, and the doing Just Happens…’cos you really can’t have a meeting with God and continue to just rest on your proverbial laurels.

well, at least that’s how i’m feeling today. ;-)

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