When a Church Group Takes a Photo Expedition

My church's pastor has been taking amazing photos for years now.  Recently, he started pairing those photos with Bible verses; go here to see what I'm talking about--scroll down to see a full sample.

A few weeks ago, he sent out an invitation to some church members to go with him to a nature preserve in the county above ours.  It was a Monday, and I probably could have made a lot of rearrangements to miss work--but because it was a bit of a last-minute possibility, I decided not to go.

It was a successful outing, so he arranged another outing, this time to the Everglades.  This time, I had more lead time, so I decided to go ahead and take the day off and go. 

I've wanted to see how my pastor chooses his subjects.  I know that he takes the photos first and then decides on the Bible verse--or at least, that's his usual approach.  But how does he find the photo?  Perhaps after today, I'll know.

I'll take my camera too, but my pastor has much more sophisticated camera equipment than I have.  Still, I look forward to seeing what develops (ha-I didn't even mean to make a pun!  but does that pun even work in this digital age?).

I had thought that we might be taking this trip before the summer weather returned, but we're about a week and a half too late.  Ah, well.  I'll take bug spray and sun screen and hope for the best, by which I mean that I hope other people sweat the same way that I do.  I'll take a towel to sit on.

I'm assuming we'll be out traipsing in nature, but perhaps it's going to be less of a nature walk than a nature sit, waiting for wildlife, waiting for the right camera shot.

I'm taking this day off to go on this outing for many reasons:  the art process insight reason, the chance to make art myself, and the chance to be out in the kind of nature that's been mostly paved over down here.  I'm also interested in the fact that it's church folks going out in my pastor's van.  What will that be like?  And it's a repeat trip--what does that mean?

My church is in the process of creating several types of ministries which you wouldn't find in the typical "How to Run Successful Programs" church guide (is there such a guide?  I was writing satirically, but perhaps there is).  We may create a Dine and Jam ministry--we have a lot of musicians who might like to get together in a non-choir setting--and we may do something else with ukuleles.  This photography expedition feels like another kind of nascent ministry.

I've long been interested in the intersections of faith and art and creativity--I didn't want to pass up a second chance to see this process up close.

I'll be back in this space with more details tomorrow.