I have this crazy besetting sin.
Well, not just one...sigh...I have many.
But today I am going to talk about one particular one....one that can drive me crazy.
Ready? True confession...I am obsessed with truth.
Now you may not think that is a bad thing, but I am living testimony that it can be.
For instance you say? Bear with me, non-photography-type people...
Let's talk about Photoshop. No, it's not a place you go to online to shop for photos to decorate your home with.
Rather, Photoshop is A) a noun, as in the program "Adobe Photoshop".
Or B) a verb...Pho·to·shop ˈfōdōˌSHäp/verb/to alter (a photographic image) digitally using Photoshop image-editing software. "The pictures have obviously been Photoshopped."
And this is where it starts to get sticky for me...where my truth obsession starts giving me myopic vision...myopic as in "unimaginative", "uncreative", "unadventurous", "narrow-minded". Ouch.
You see, as a budding photographer, very budding, I have been trying to reach a conclusion about the need to photoshop my pictures.
I mean, really, shouldn't it be possible to get the picture right the first time and not have to play with it later?
And doesn't altering any of the qualities of the picture make it "impure"? Give a false representation of the reality?
My "truthy" self cannot bear such a thought!
Some of my justifications? Let's take two of them...
1. Our obsession as a culture photoshopping models and other famous people to perfection, misrepresenting who they really are.
And look what this has done to an entire generation of young people who feel they can never live up to such perfection. But God knows they try. And bear the pain because of it.
2. Or, the video series by Francis Schaeffer, "How Should We Then Live?"...especially one part where they record a crime scene on camera from three different angles to prove how our perception of an event can be altered and affected by what we are shown.
Tell me that doesn't happen on a daily basis in the media!
So, with these thoughts swirling around in my head, I have found myself coming down really hard on the pro-photoshop people. As in, "I am right, you are wrong, fingers in my ears, la-la-la..."
Until today.
Today I decided to "give-'em-a-chance" and "hear-the-enemy-out".
Noble of me, eh?
So I spent hours and hours reading blogs, websites, commentaries, and other ramblings until something amazing happened.
As I was willing to listen and learn, a sliver of light broke through.
I'm not talking blazing sunbeam, just enough light to help me see that maybe I wasn't seeing the whole picture.
That maybe this issue is bigger than I thought.
That maybe I need to take time. And learn. And submit to the wisdom of those wiser than me. People who know more and have been traveling the road much longer that I.
I'm beginning to think it's more of a heart issue, like so many things in life are.
What are my intentions? My motivations?
To deceive or misrepresent? Wrong. Always.
To make the picture appear as I really saw it when I took it? Evidently the camera cannot capture the nuances of color and shading that our eyes see when we click the shutter.
And what about "artistic license"? Some of my favorite photographs are of black and white pictures with one object in color...striking! You can't take a picture like that without help.
And this leads me to the point of this blog...the difference between truth and Truth.
It's easy sometimes to think we are walking in The Truth, when we are stumbling in our own little world of self-perceived truth.
In one, we base our thoughts and perceptions, and even our lives, on what we think. Forgetting that our minds and hearts are deceitfully wicked...and distorted...and incapable of understanding anything.
That only by walking in the Light of the Truth, with Him Who is The Way and The Truth and The Life can we navigate successfully.
It is humbling to learn I don't know it all. And what I do think I know may not be True.
I need to remember this...in all areas of my life. "Swift to hear, slow to speak"...ever coming into knowledge and understanding.
And most importantly, Truth.
Amazing what photography can teach me...if only I am willing to learn...
I mean, really, shouldn't it be possible to get the picture right the first time and not have to play with it later?
And doesn't altering any of the qualities of the picture make it "impure"? Give a false representation of the reality?
My "truthy" self cannot bear such a thought!
Some of my justifications? Let's take two of them...
1. Our obsession as a culture photoshopping models and other famous people to perfection, misrepresenting who they really are.
And look what this has done to an entire generation of young people who feel they can never live up to such perfection. But God knows they try. And bear the pain because of it.
2. Or, the video series by Francis Schaeffer, "How Should We Then Live?"...especially one part where they record a crime scene on camera from three different angles to prove how our perception of an event can be altered and affected by what we are shown.
Tell me that doesn't happen on a daily basis in the media!
So, with these thoughts swirling around in my head, I have found myself coming down really hard on the pro-photoshop people. As in, "I am right, you are wrong, fingers in my ears, la-la-la..."
Until today.
Today I decided to "give-'em-a-chance" and "hear-the-enemy-out".
Noble of me, eh?
So I spent hours and hours reading blogs, websites, commentaries, and other ramblings until something amazing happened.
As I was willing to listen and learn, a sliver of light broke through.
I'm not talking blazing sunbeam, just enough light to help me see that maybe I wasn't seeing the whole picture.
That maybe this issue is bigger than I thought.
That maybe I need to take time. And learn. And submit to the wisdom of those wiser than me. People who know more and have been traveling the road much longer that I.
I'm beginning to think it's more of a heart issue, like so many things in life are.
What are my intentions? My motivations?
To deceive or misrepresent? Wrong. Always.
To make the picture appear as I really saw it when I took it? Evidently the camera cannot capture the nuances of color and shading that our eyes see when we click the shutter.
And what about "artistic license"? Some of my favorite photographs are of black and white pictures with one object in color...striking! You can't take a picture like that without help.
And this leads me to the point of this blog...the difference between truth and Truth.
It's easy sometimes to think we are walking in The Truth, when we are stumbling in our own little world of self-perceived truth.
In one, we base our thoughts and perceptions, and even our lives, on what we think. Forgetting that our minds and hearts are deceitfully wicked...and distorted...and incapable of understanding anything.
That only by walking in the Light of the Truth, with Him Who is The Way and The Truth and The Life can we navigate successfully.
It is humbling to learn I don't know it all. And what I do think I know may not be True.
I need to remember this...in all areas of my life. "Swift to hear, slow to speak"...ever coming into knowledge and understanding.
And most importantly, Truth.
Amazing what photography can teach me...if only I am willing to learn...
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