A Pious Photojournalism Project

I'm sitting here at Oolong enjoying the last of my tea after finishing my analysis project, and thinking about new ideas for photos. Particularly, about an idea for a project I've been bouncing around in my skull for some weeks now.

It's a photojournalism idea that's slowly evolved in complexity since it first popped into my head with the creation of my deviation, Allahu Akbar:


It centers on the various religions that inhabit our fairly diverse city of Calgary, Alberta. We have Orthodox Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Catholics of every variation and myriad other Christian derivatives. We have Buddhist monks, we have a few ascetics, we have a local group of Shinto and a dozen other Eastern religions. We even have a group of Aryans; distasteful as they may be.

What I'm interested in, and have been for many, many years, is the mysticism associated with religion. The various mantras, chants, hymns and smoke-shrouded rituals. You know, the stuff that makes a religion different from every other. I'm talking about the prostration in the direction of Mecca, the incense-laden procession of bishops, the myriad impossible poses of a Yogi.

I want to do this for a dozen different reasons. I want to hone my craft; I want to learn how to take more photojournalistic (new word!) images in real-life settings. I want to experience the rituals of a dozen different religions from a first-person perspective. I've read about most of them, and have been fascinated by them all; now I want to capture them with my art and passion.

The question I put to you, my myriad readers, is this:

What do you think the reactions will be of the various clergy and leaders? Perhaps more importantly, what will be the reaction of the congregations?

Will I be immediately persecuted as an outsider interefering? Will I be viewed as just a gawking tourist with a camera trying to get a souvenir to show my friends? Will they try to throw me out or slur me?

Or will I be accepted as a curious person who is trying to learn about their religion; not for purposes of conversion, but for the goal of understanding someone else's perspective? Will it be friendly, constructive and a good experience for both parties; one learning and one teaching and eliminating misconceptions.

If I ever get to do this, I plan on writing a blurb to go with the photos to describe the experience, no holds barred.

I had a wonderful experience doing this once, and it led me to hunger for more.

What do you think?

Nathan

Clubs: