In the beginning of the year, I decided that I wanted to move my photography in a different direction. While I will always photograph children and families, there were three distinct areas where I wanted to focus.
1. Make people with disabilities more visible. (make the invisible visible)
2. Show healing and recovery.
3. Show Church away from church. I wrote on New Year's Day, "In the Nicene Creed, there is a phrase about the "seen and unseen." I think there is another category. That which is "unshown," but could be seen."
The the third point led me to reconnect with one of my former priests, Anne Howard, who is now the Executive Director for the Beatitudes Society. Anne also responded to my writing questions during my March writing project, so she might be familiar if you do not already know her.
In March, I photographed seminarians from across the country who met in Berkeley, California for The Beatitudes Society's Prophetic Preaching Workshop.
Beatitudes Society Prophetic Preaching - (click link for larger slideshow Images by bryan farley
I love good preaching and good teaching. Anne is good at doing both, so I enjoyed watching the process. I enjoyed watching how the students prepared. I was more impressed by what this seminar was not. It was not about how to prepare a speech. It was not full of criticism. This was about something greater.
Anne provided three basic rules or "practices." Practice #3. "Don't Lie." (I discuss this in Anne's writing response mentioned above.) While nobody expects their pastor to lie, this practice goes further than telling the truth. The practice is more about demanding that a preacher ask about the most significant event happening in his or her life. Then, asking, "How does a preacher's personal life affect the sermon?"
As an observer, I wondered, "How does my personal life affect what I hear? Am I aware when I am preoccupied? How often do I pretend to listen while thinking about what is really on my mind? If my preacher or teacher is preoccupied, do I want to know details? Do I want my preacher to be self aware? Does it matter?
And I guess, I could ask myself similar questions as a writer and a photographer. Am I lying? Sometimes, the answer is "I do not know," and that is an honest response.
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