Travelling from Ottawa to Montreal last fall, I followed a sign along the Ottawa River which said "Scenic Lookout." Turning into the parking lot, I was surprised to see this impressive statue erected by the local parish church. I am not a Catholic myself and found the graphic nature of this realistic crucifiction hard to take in. There was a scenic lookout and a place to sit down for a picnic lunch, but somehow, I could not bring myself to chow down under the shadow of this overwhelming religious monument.
James. Thank you for your comments. I don't think I would ever go back to this spot. Despite it being several hours off my regular route, I find this sort of thing unesecarily brutal. Different strokes for different folks and all, but crucifictions don't leave me with a greater appreciation of anything except perhaps man's ability to inflict pain and suffering on others.
I took this photo quickly, reacting to the scene with a certain level of disgust. It was as if I had come across a car crash and could think of nothing better to do than to photograph it.
As for the angle of view, I am attaching the original file uncropped so that you may see better where I was standing. I doctored the original image in three ways. 1) I cropped it. 2) I shifted the perspective to reduce the converging lines - my mind's eye did not see this conververgence at the time and so I did my best to approximate what I felt was my original vision. 3) I shifted the colour balance from the stark blue of that day to a much warmer tone - in retrospect, that may have been a mistake, but I wanted the blood dripping from Christ's wounds to be as visible to the viewer as it was to me.
Most of the time with my photography, I try to find beauty in the ordinary so that I may rejoice in the miracle of life and our existence. For millions of people, the crucifiction scene and its religious meaning offers similar values, but for me it just exemplifies pain and suffering.
John. I just came upon this image. Nice. Did you perchance take a shot from belkow looking up at Him? The vantage point would have been very powerful. And the balance may have been better. If you can go to this spot again try it.
![Photograph By Nelson Moore [Kes] -](http://thumbs.imageopolis.com/images/6/0/0/5/6005/1537290-tn.jpg "Photograph By Nelson Moore [Kes] -")
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