Photography as a spiritual practice

“Yes, it could be that I am a tiny piece of God, and each of you too, or at least of his intention and his hope." — Mary Oliver

This poem, “At the River Clarion,” makes me think of the doctrine of Imago Dei, which (put simply) is that humans are made in the image of God. An expression of the divine.

By extension, I believe our very moments can be sacred.

I believe that photography is an art and spiritual practice. That’s why I call the kind of photography I do — documentary photography — sacred photography. Real life is beautiful and that there is sacredness in the ordinary. There’s a sort of mysticism to photography.

Bernard McGinn defines mysticism as that part, or element, of Christian belief and practice that concerns the preparation for, the consciousness of, and the effect of [...] a direct and transformative presence of God.

I have experienced this to varying degrees while documenting people's ordinary moments.

Moments are connection. They contain love, joy, peace, and goodness, which some will recognize as the fruit of the Spirit.

At times I have even felt I was in a "thin place,” a term the Celts coined for spaces and moments where the distance between heaven and earth seem almost non-existent.

This can be a physical location or a liminal space (a space between, or a transition). For me, capturing a moment — a true moment — is a thin place.

This can be moments between people.

Moments of meaningful experiences or moments when we’re standing on the threshold. Liminal space — the time between what was and what's next.

It can be moments with nature. Or moments when we simply notice.

In these moments, it can almost feel like time stands still. I recently learned about kairological time — a seasonal, cyclic kind of time that many philosophers and mystics would refer to as “deep time” — where the world seems to stop entirely.

Another article I found on it described it as time as story because it includes not only time, but space and meaning.

Mary Oliver says, "I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention."

Or to paraphrase Dr. Anthony: the more you spend time in the wilderness, the likelier you are to encounter a bear.

Paying attention is prayer. Pay attention, and you, too, will begin to see the sacred in the ordinary.