246. Confirmation and Bad Company

Posted by Eva Ulian February 07, 2011

246. Confirmation and Bad Company

I have just uploaded near enough to 250 photos on the online Parish Magazine- links below. That means looking through at least twice as many and pick out those to publish, then correct any defects, such as lighting or cutting out unnecessary space, 250 times over. After which I have to re-dimension one by one from 1 MB odd to less than 50 kb so they are acceptable for web uploading, hoping the connection has no hiccups as it often does. It takes time, patience, eye, neck, and arm strain with the inevitable headaches, lack of circulation and weight gain because of hours of inactivity... So why do I do it?

Firstly, because for me photography is an art and one of my three passions- for the record, the other two are writing and painting. In comparison to writing and painting, photography is an “easy” art, most of the work is done for you- you see the image and you simply capture it with a click.

Secondly, I have to admit, I do it for them. I do it for those who live these moments when they walked hand in hand with Jesus, when Jesus was their friend. I do it so that they will remember it, because soon enough they will be led into the by ways and alleys of pornography, prostitution, pretty coloured pills, white powders, grass and circling fumes beneath swirling psychedelic lights and screaming music thumping in their brain. I do it because during their wild nights and wasted days of Saturday night screeching tyres that claim yet another death, a fatal overdose or a trip gone wrong; a glimmer of remembrance will enlighten their obfuscated minds and they will recall, that now totally estranged world, the day of their Confirmation, when Jesus was their friend...

It is easy to lose sight of Friendship when the alluring temptation of bad company offer you a false paradise. It does not happen suddenly, but one step at a time, that one drop that has no end until we lose sight completely of our Confirmation Day... when Jesus was our Friend.

So Jesus is not our friend any more? On the contrary, Jesus’ hand is always outstretched, it is us who have let go of it, it is us who are no longer friends with Jesus, it is us who prefer the illusionary more exciting bad company who only too willingly have ensnared us. We can choose that too, free will is our inheritance as human beings... we can choose bad company, but more often than not we are lured into it without realizing how really muddy the waters are until we are too stuck to get out.

I take photographs of animals, nature, buildings, people... People offer various portraits of life. I have taken photos of people celebrating a birthday, a festival, people suffering, people lost, people with empty glances. But there is something special in photographing people in the presence of God... their faces often transpire serenity, peace, joy.