City - New York State - NEW YORK Country - United States
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"Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it." Jeremiah 33:9
I’m now back I the US and am living in Manhattan, New York working with the newly formed Youth With A Mission base here! Just recently something was held called “Prayer in the Square” where over 7 thousand people gathered in Time Square for an hour of worship and prayer! It was incredible to see God work like that, moving in the hearts of multitudes of people who, compared to God’s hugeness are like a speck of dust… yet he still brings himself down to personally love and speak into each one’s life! It was packed with tons of people, and just like how from this angle in the photo you see only ONE worshipping, that’s how God sees it, that’s His angle. He not only saw thousands collectively worshipping, praying, and crying out to Him, but each individual and their personal heart towards Him, and THAT is what is so amazing about our God! You can just feel God is up to something with this city, and I can’t wait to see what else he’s got planned!!
I thought I should visit your portfolio once more , as your images mean a lot to me, I am so happy there are people like you in this lonely world.I am so pleased to read your remarks below your images, keep up with the good work both in your photography as well as your life.Hugs from Athens, Greece! ps1.Visit my portfolio from time to time, I will be pleased to know that you watch my progress.:) ps2.This city seems to be huge!
Rachel, to refer to "somebody" as a deep thinker is the one thing, and to refer to the own self as a "deep thinker" is the other, the latter being much like tapping on the own shoulders. To say "I think a lot" is again something very very different than to say "I am a deep thinker", since the first is only referring to quantity and the second refers to quality of the own thoughts. Compare it to saying "I make a lot of photos" or saying "I make good photos".
The story that always exists behind any photo is a part of it, and of course you any anybody could (and should) say something about that. It is the general conclusions, especially the pseudo-philosophic ones about which I do notice a very strong tendency by many users here to write them down, and present them to public. It is not the same talking about the atmosphere, the special circumstances, the mood, or similar things that lead to exposure, or to make statements about things that are subject to the search for the truth. The latter are *not* matter of opinions - science and philosophy are not democratic! When hundreds of much better brains before you an me have found out that something *is* or *is not*, then there is absolutely no reason at all, to still sit there and write things just as if all that never happend.
The "own experience of God" is also proved to be nothing more than the influence of all those tiny elementar processes to human perception that has been formed in thousands of years of evolution to react this way. Even the "near death" experiences, all those lights, and tunnels and the similar stupidity are only the results of extraneous hormone production to avoid the stress of death - also a proven fact. (And why is there a stress of death? ;-))
Your beliefs you can have still, but: Exposing them to public like some kind of "wonderful truth" that you found, could allow us of writing that the universe is 1000 years old, as the bible says.
Did you consider examining first, how you automatically map a gender to God? ("He", "him", etc.) Isn't that a bit curious to you, that though on the one hand you assume non-material existance of God, you do already know that it is "he"? Such things are always indicators for suggestive thinking.
The fact that you are not special with that, doesn't mean anything. In medieval ages it was not special to believe that the earth is flat. And it was wrong.
Well, I have to say – I thought whether it was comparative or just stated WAS relevant, because I couldn’t understand why the statement of a deep thinker made you so upset. But now I see. I’m so sorry I even used that phrase. To refer to someone as a “deep thinker” is very different for you and me. It seems you see it as someone who is a philosopher, extremely intellectual, someone who knows almost everything… that makes sense because after asking a couple more people what they think that means they think the same, so you are right here! I didn’t mean to use it in that way, though. Maybe it’s because I’m from a different generation, a different country, or I’m just simply young, but it just means something different in my mind. To me, saying someone is a deep thinker doesn’t mean they are intellectual or have a higher quality of thinking… it just means someone thinks a lot, looks into things too much sometimes, and finds some sort of random meaning in every little thing no matter how insignificant. I now see that’s not the correct usage of the words “deep thinker” though, so I’m sorry I used it and lead you to believe that… maybe I should have just said simply “I think a lot!” :)
I still don’t see why it is so wrong though to tell the story behind my photos and what motivated me to take it and share it. Looking through your portfolio you seem to do the same thing, only your thoughts and motivations behind taking the pictures are very different and don’t include God… which makes sense because we are different people! But you do seem to add little snippets of your feelings or motivation behind the photos, which I love!
I also just need to point out that I KNOW I am an amateur, and never proclaimed to be anything more. I AM young and I HAVE only been doing photography for a short while, so it’s no surprise to me to have someone tell me I am merely an amateur, but thanks for pointing it out again, I guess!
I also never said (or meant to say) I knew everything… and I don’t think I do either… all I know is that I definitely don’t know much at all, but what I DO know I have confidence in. On the subject of God, I know I have personally experienced him, and he is so much a part of my life that that’s where my photos come from. Maybe I should keep it to myself WHY I take my pictures and not bring it to the “public forum”… but I don’t see why that should be so when it doesn’t seem to be a problem when other people do it so often, including you… but the controversy seems to come when God is my motivation and I’m sure of my love for him.
Okay, and thank you for giving me permission to have my beliefs! You say ALL it caused was wars, misery, and hunting throughout the history of humanity, huh? So does that make me the only exception? Am I THAT special? I don’t think so – I know countless amounts of people, including myself, that their relationship with God has caused nothing less than freedom, fulfillment, and to be honest, yes a fair amount of trials… but definitely satisfaction and purpose!
~Rachel~
p.s. my e-mail address is rinnahabah@yahoo.com… please write me there if you want to continue the conversation! I am also very interested in what sort of concrete mathematical and historical evidence you have that has disproved God’s very existence
It's completely irrelevant whether you used any comparative or just stated something about your "deep thinking" abilities. The thinker does not state such things about his/herself. He/She just thinks and leaves it to the rest to decide about the quality of the own thoughts. Anything else, including self-representation and propagation of "the meaning" of the own photos, is the arrogance of the amateur, who tries to establish the own ego in the world of the "thinkers" but out of the own wish and nothing else.
Sokrates said: "I only know that I don't know anything."
Newton saw himself as a child playing with some shells in front of an ocean of truth which he no way crossed.
But amateurs, ooooh, amateurs already crossed that ocean and bombard us with their "found truths" without having even cared to learn about cognition theory, about logic, about anything.
You can have any belief that you like, including about god, religion and anything else. The thinker don't care about beliefs. (You would be ripping to pieces the beliefs that you have now, if it happened that you were born somewhere else, so don't take your beliefs so seriously.)
An "opinion" of an amateur is the sublimation of non-knowledge. Perhaps you carry your "opinions" to Sweden for the next Nobel Prize.
But OK, go on having beliefs that didn't cause anything else than wars, misery, and hunting people all over the world throughout the history of humanity. Yes, that's God, and knowledge of history is absolutely necessary before propagating such hollow "opinions" to a public place like this. Or else we don't differ at all from any zealot. Are you enough of a "deep thinker" to comprehend this conclusion of contemporary philosophy, or do rather your "opinions"?
Hi Rachel, Nope, I'm not either...but I received and email from them and thought the girl in it looked like a recent bio pic you had up. After I asked you if you were connected with them...I asked my wife if she thought they were photos of the same person. Of course she quickly saw some obvious differences, lol, I should have asked her first!
Thanks Kes for the comment... and no I'm not involved with Chai Lifeline, but I looked it up online an it seems very interesting! are YOU involved in it or you just have heard of it? ~Rachel~
First off, I just need to point out that I never said (or meant to say) I was a deeper thinker than anyone - or as you said, have “higher thinking abilities”, I just said that I am a “deep thinker” in general so it’s the photos with meaning behind it that I like. I am sorry if that’s what you thought I meant, but it’s not. I never claimed to be philosophical or a philosopher either, nor am I trying to be… all I am trying to do is just express myself through my art, or photography, I am not doing it to match up to the “best spirits of this world”, or even be the “philosopher in photography”. I’m sorry I don’t follow yours or anyone else’s formula of photography, or specific rules in how to lead the viewer to think a certain way, or leaving just the right amount of room for the viewers to come up with some sort of conclusion. Although those are I’m sure GREAT ways of presenting photography, I just take my pictures and simply write what they mean to me. I’m not trying to force my thoughts on anyone, just wanna write what the photo means to me… and whether people agree or disagree (or just skip the “about” section all together) is up to them, it’s fine with me. You can go head and critique and criticize my photos all you want, that is why I put them on here… you can even tell me whether you don’t agree or do agree with my beliefs (because in all fairness I AM opening them up to all the usefilm people)… but since you brought up the prospect of “nice” – I do not think it’s “nice” to state that I am not permitted to have ANY beliefs on this subject of God at all, because that’s absolutely separate from just disagreeing, and I don’t think this is the place for that…
Hi Rachel and thanks a lot for the in depth going detail!
Well, I have to admit that I find the originally posted image better than the attachment in the sense of the intention behind the image. It makes much clearer what should be conveyed.
For the philosophical part of it, it's neither philosophic nor it is "nice" to declare the own "depth" of thoughts, so we leave that aside. Remember, the best spirits of this world never cared to demonstrate any "higher thinking abilities" but rather did what they did without any labels of "hidden truths", "deeper meanings" and the like conglomerate of undefinable things.
So, when we take that into consideration, we come to the conclusion that the tendency to *expose* those "deeper meanings" is only the main characteristic of the non-philosopher. The philosopher in photograohy does not lead the thoughts of the spectator. He/she simply exposes and then allows the spectator to build up the *own* thoughts. This is why I am quite allergic to all the self-declared wise man and wise woman here, that at the end didn't even care to learn about simple formal logic. (Without that, forget about philosophy! ;-))
So we have about 3000 posts everyday, telling us what the truth is, what the meaning is, and how it should be, and what is wrong, and the similar. But!!!! Why is the "truth" always the truth according to the *own* picture of the world of the photographer (painter, poet, whatever)? The truth, which many want to show us, cannot be subject of personal views, and thus: No photo ever will show the truth, since it *is* the product of the own mind at the end, and not the product of some "higher influence" from above!
As about who is "us". Simply the set of self-declared gurus in UF. ;-)
But some of them make their own lifes hard by questioning themselves! ;-)
And as about God: There can be no "opinion" when mathematics strictly prove the non-existance of such a thing. Sorry! No way to avoid that, or else we could also have the "opinion" that the earth is flat, and that women have to be burned because they are witches. It is not a matter of "opinion", it is a matter of necessity!
Ciao and thaaaaaaaaaanks a looooot for your reply again! Sincerely I think that such matters should be discussed much more heavily here.
Hey, thanks Nick for the nice detailed comment! I like that somehow this picture caused you to question things (my beliefs) and think, even though it was the opposite of my meaning behind it! :) And as for the overexposed part… I am still not sure how I like it either. I have 2 versions… hmmm thanks for the input though, I’m still tryin to figure out which one I like better! I’ll attach the other version at the bottom, okay? Please tell me which you prefer!
As for your question:
“Will we ever start photographing not for demonstrating our beliefs and silly hidden truth, but just for photographing?”
Well, that depends on who you mean by “we”… people photograph for different reasons. Personally I find it extremely boring to look at pictures, flat without meaning. I have working eyes to look at things in real life, I certainly don’t necessarily need to stare at a picture of a tree or a road… but being the deep thinker I am, if the photographer took the picture with a deeper meaning in mind, or if there is a story behind that tree or that road, it is much more interesting to me! That’s not to say I don’t enjoy looking at different people’s techniques and talents though… I just find it much more enjoyable if the photo makes me think or stirs something up in me, or reveals something about the world or photographer as a person. That is the photography I do! I take tons of “meaningless” photos all the time, cause I love photographing, BUT my favorites are the ones that some sort of truth or meaning leaks out of. I, and I believe possibly many other people, aren’t drawn to the photos alone, but they are drawn to the feelings and impressions that come as a result of the photo. I don’t do photography for the sake of having something pretty on paper or on a computer screen, I don’t do photography so that other people can look at something pretty either… but that’s just me, I do it as a way of personally expressing myself, who I am, my beliefs, my thoughts on this world, on God, life, whatever… I don’t expect people to necessarily care what I think, so it’s fine if people look at my photos and see a photo alone, it can simply be something pretty to look at on their computer screen, but I know a part of me or my heart is embedded in each photo… so to start photographing just for the sake of photographing would end photography as a whole for me, but thanks for the suggestion! :)
I find the fact a bit puzzling that the top center is overexposed (bad) but then the hand seems to try to reach the endless light (good). Together with the upwards perpective it really works, but still I think that some more details of that very highlighted region could do good. Or do I? I can't decide now!
But there is such an amount of details on the walls, such a great coloring, and such a depth too!
A very special one!
Nick
P.S.: As about Gods, Devils, and similar things... they never existed. Will we ever start photographing not for demonstrating our beliefs and silly hidden truth, but just for photographing?
Excellent image deat Rachel !!! I love the hand in the air and the tone of happiness here ...Also great perspective, angle, and all those billboards !! Just Perfect !!! Michele~
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{K:22477} 10/5/2007
![Nelson Moore [Kes] -](http://images.imageopolis.com/images/5/7/8/7/5787/1481659-micro.jpg){kind=small}
