Finding God in all things
Have you ever considered photography as a spiritual practice?
Have you ever considered photography as a spiritual practice? This was a topic I was asked to address a few years ago at the Norbertine Center for Spirituality in De Pere, Wis. It took me several months to put the presentation together. In addition to researching the topic, I contacted a few fellow photographers in the religious press and asked them to share their thoughts.
As fate would have it, the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of my presentation. Instead, it sat inside my laptop for a year – until I decided to use the pandemic’s favorite tool (Zoom) and offer it as a video, which I posted to YouTube.
Here is a quick summary of the points I make in this video:
What does photography as a spiritual practice mean?
Is it limited to religious ceremonies? In my experience, photography as a spiritual practice entails much more than photographing religious services.
The saints and Scripture.
Next, I turned to the saints and to Scripture to help describe what photography as a spiritual practice can mean. First up was St. Ignatius of Loyola, who gave members of his religious order, the Society of Jesus, the directive: Find God in all things. Isn’t that what photographers do?
Other views of photography as spiritual practice.
In this segment, I share insights by Catholic press photographers Michael Alexander, Rick Mussachio, Fr. Don Doll, Jaclyn Lippelmann and Paul Haring. The most inspiring quote came from Michael, who has since retired as photographer for the Georgia Bulletin in Atlanta:
“I’ve always said I have never taken a photograph that God didn’t see first.”
Ways to find God in all things
The presentation concludes with tips on learning to find God in all things through photography, as well as a video of my favorite macro photography model: the jumping spider.
Jumping spider (Sam Lucero photo)The presentation (below) takes about 20 minutes. I have also attached a downloadable PDF of composition tips I planned to share at my presentation. I hope the tips and the video inspire you to pick up a camera and “find God in all things.”
UPDATE: I will be offering my presentation at the Norbertine Center for Spirituality on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022.