Photographic guru and author Bill Fortney (http://www,billfortney.com), recently retired
as Nikon professional markets rep, makes no apologies for his strong allegiance
to Christian principles and faith. Bill
doesn’t beat you over the head with it but rather he is simply an expert in his
own story. Plus, as a former teacher,
Bill is a darn good story teller.
It’s easy to say, as I often do, that as photographers we
are simply recording in our own way that which God gave us. But that’s not the only correlation between
photography, faith and life.
Portland Women's Forum State Park, Oregon
So many times photographers will walk away from what they
view as a less than perfect shot or get so caught up on one lofty track than
the simple beauty at your feet is overlooked.
While we should aim for the most perfect images possible is the quest
for perfection – sometimes inane quibbling over such things as whether using a
filter defiles an image – causing us to overlook the gifts God gave us? Do we sometimes look too hard for perfection
only to walk away empty-handed?
Pope Francis has become one of the world’s most influential
people not by loftiness but by simple, humble truths. He didn’t toss out centuries of Catholic teaching but rather put
the mission of the church as being a hospital for sinners, not a museum for
saints – a place gloriously tattered and bruised from being in the streets with
God’s people.
Merced River, Yosemite National Park, California
Does the quest for perfection – again, not necessarily an
improper goal – obstruct the ability to find beauty even in the imperfect? Does the fear of being less than perfect
keep us from realizing all of our potential?
A game warden was invited by some friends to go
fishing. Having a slow day one of them
decided it was a good idea to get the fish to come up out of the deep so he lit
a stick of dynamite. The stunned warden
exclaimed, “You can’t do that!!!” One
of his buddies handed the dynamite stick to the warden and said, “Are you going
to talk or are you going to fish?”
So, does everything have to be perfect? Do you want to be in a stuffy museum or
doing God’s work in your community? Are
you going to talk or are you going to fish?
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
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