Daily Archives: January 31, 2014

Have you ever heard someone play an organ or piano and constantly hit the wrong key?  I know you have, and when you hear the wrong note when you expected something different, it is jarring.  I contend that when you are walking with Christ and we react to something in a way that is not expected, it can be even more jarring.

 

From time to time I get an email or a response on the blog that I didn’t expect.  My reaction says a lot about just how closely I’m walling with the Lord.  I think it is normal to have an immediate internal reaction to things we don’t want to hear, but the important thing is how quickly do we recover and respond as Christ would? There is a big difference in a “reaction” and a “response”. A reaction is an almost involuntary response.  I may be letting myself off easy, but I think it is normal to first have a backlash to what we don’t agree with, but I think it is a sin to harbor that feeling and let it grow.  I choose to think about the other persons circumstances and why they may have reacted the way they did.  Sometimes I find they were justified and I was wrong.  To that I apologize, which I think is appropriate.  Sometimes I think they are being over-reactive and I still try to respond in a kind way, but hold my ground if I feel it is important to make my point.

 

Writing a blog, especially one that espouses a faith walk with Jesus, is a big responsibility. Fortunately I don’t have to be perfect, I know that I am not and an effort to be so, would be futile. I do have a responsibility to approach my responses in a Christ like manner.  I think a healthy discourse about any subject is a good thing.  When I was still working for Nikon I met a number of people that held truly hard feelings about Canon users, and I’ve met more than  few Canon shooters that felt just has harshly about the Nikon folks.  Inspite of the fact that I worked for Nikon I simply never felt that way!  I had a lot of dear friends in the industry.  Ray Acevedo was the head of the pro tech services at Olympus, and one of the nicest guys I’ve ever known, and we became good friends.  Chuckie Luzier who was my counterpart at Canon, and he became one of my best friends in the in the industry!  Tom Curley at Fuji and later at Panasonic, Bob Singh of Sing Ray, Roger Laudy of Image Wizards, Doug Murdoch at Think Tank, Stephen Hart of Jasper Imaging, and I’m going to stop because the list would go on and on and on.  My point is all of these people and many more worked in the photography industry and we never let our professional allegiances keep us from becoming friends and good associates.

 

You can love your Canon and we can still be friends, you can love your Leica, or Nikon, or Fuji and we can still be friends.  The choice of a camera should not be a barrier to being photo buddies!   When Scott Kelby came out with a video on his blog to explain why he was shooting Canon, it got a lot of nasty reviews.  I think some people that reacted poorly were saying I chose Nikon and I’m dedicated to that system, and you used to use Nikon and you switched, and that angered me, in truth it made them feel a tiny bit less secure about their choice.  I believe that is a silly reaction.  I worked for Nikon and I can tell you they make great cameras and lenses and no one that uses that brand should ever feel insecure about shooting Nikon.  I never owned or used Canon, but I know plenty of friends that swear by theirs, and I say good for you, from the looks of your images you are more than justified in being happy with your choice!

 

Photographers make images, not cameras.

 

For years I’ve shared a reoccurring dream I’ve had:  I die and go to heaven and meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, he welcomes me to heaven and I ask him, “please tell me you have photography in heaven??!!”  He smiles a big warm smile and says, “You bet, Jesus and God the Father are both really into photography and we have a big club here, in fact they’re both happy to have you join us!  In fact here comes God now to welcome you!”  I look up and stately gentleman in a white beard is strolling toward me and around his neck on a beautiful leather strap is an Olympus!  Guess neither side of the big photo companies won!  Who am I to argue!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

Enjoy the Super Bowl!……. and don’t spend all your time trying to calculate the ratio of black to white lenses!