Focus

I've been immersing myself in Photography the past few weeks thanks to one of my electives in school, and I've gotta say that it takes a lot of practice and involves a lot of technicalities.  Our teacher, Ms. Borsoto, taught us the three key elements of a photograph on our first day of class back in November.  These are: the Composition, the Lighting, and the Subject.

Today is the fifth day of our Seven Days of Prayer and Fasting in Victory, the church that I go to.

Just a little background.  We go through the Seven Days of Prayer and Fasting each year (though this is only my first year) as an act of humility and consecration before God, and to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.  Each day, we dedicate our quiet time to Read, Reflect, and Respond based on the booklet provided for us.  It's a time to sacrifice some of our earthly desires to focus on God and rely on Him for strength.

As the days passed by, I was able to connect my Photography elective to our Seven Days of Prayer and Fasting.  As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and beauty is subjective.  But here are my thoughts:

The Composition of a photo is how the elements of the photo are artistically arranged to achieve a desired effect.  This is quite similar to how we arrange the different aspects of our lives in accordance to God's will.

The Lighting is the element that brings illumination to certain parts of the photo.  In our case, it's through reading and living out the Bible that brings illumination in our lives, through the grace of God.

Lastly, the Subject is the main focus of every photo.  Without a Subject, a photo is just a snapshot--something that wasn't well thought of because the picture has nothing to focus on.  Here's where Jesus comes in the picture.  He is the subject, the main focus of every Christian's life.  And as a relatively new Christian, I find myself discovering new things about Him everyday.

So what makes a picture different from all the rest?  Well, as I've mentioned earlier, beauty is subjective. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder is what people usually say.  One photo may not be striking for others, but some may find it very eye-catching.  Some may focus more on the technicalities, while others enjoy the sheer artistic simplicity of photos.

As a newbie photographer, what I can say is good photos take a lot of patience and practice.  One aspect of Photography that sometimes gives me trouble is in using the Manual Focus.  Sometimes, I see the photo focused on the subject through the viewfinder, but when I take a look at the finished product, it's not as sharp as I wanted it to be.  Take this photo as an example:

What Story Can You Share?

The same goes to every new Christian.  The main problem most of the time is not being able to focus on who we need to focus on, the Subject of our lives.  Sometimes our focus drifts unto other unimportant things, especially when things seem to be going relatively fast in our lives.

So what can we do?  We can and should keep ourselves focused on Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  We have to take things slow when everything seems to happen too fast.  Just like Photography, it takes a lot of practice.  But keep in mind that it will be worth it in the end. :)

Taking Things Slow

Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you. (Joshua 3:5 NIV)

Pictures are from my online portfolio for my Photography Elective. Here's the Link.