Life, and work especially, has been stressing me out lately. Stress, my friend Mark tells me, is killing me by the minute. Also killing me by the minute is sitting down. There is not a lack of either these days. The important lesson that I am trying to learn is to hang on to what is important. My faith, family, and hope for the future.
Andy and Julia are one of my favorite couples. Whether is be playing Nerts at our house, trivia, or just hanging out, we always have a great time. I was honored to be asked to shoot their wedding. What a wedding it was! Urban Light Studios in Greenwood is a photo/video studio that has a great environment to get hitched and take photos. The great combination made for a lot of ideas. Actually, there were more ideas than we had time for! Good luck in the future, you two. Laura and I love you guys and are so happy to be among your friends! It was obvious from all the people and words at your wedding that your influence is wide and deep.
My good friend Tim and I have been talking about shooting stars for the last few years, but rarely go out and do so. We decided to head up toward Snoqualmie on a cloudy night during an almost full moon… the worst conditions for photos of stars. But, our time is limited since he will be on the road for a few months, so we just went anyway.
I really like the Kodak Portra 400NC film. Normally, I shoot with a Pentax SP II, but I got a Ricoh Rangefinder recently so I tested out some Ilford Delta 3200 B+W and some Portra, but the Ricoh isn’t very reliable, which is unfortunate.
First is the Pentax:
Now the Ricoh 500:
–John
Had a film/digital shoot with Natasha recently. Tim Dyk and Laura helped out on a rare sunny day in Seattle. We had a great time and it was my first shoot with Kodak Portra 400NC. I might try out the VC soon too. NC is “Natural Color” VC is “Vivid Color”. So far, its one of my favorite color films.
About the International Guild of Visual Peacemakers from the IGVP Website:
We want to bring our craft and vision together into extraordinary technique. But technique is not an end in itself. We’re on a journey to exhibit the beauty and dignity of people in our images.
We are committed to displaying common humanity and images that build bridges of peace. We hope you can learn from our example, from one another, and we in turn will draw inspiration from the entire visual peacemaking movement.
Part of our desire is to see visual communication industries and media saturated with visual peacemakers like yourself who know how to use their vision, their craft, and their BIG hearts for the good of our world!
I joined the IGVP when they launched, but hadn’t really done anything with my profile until recently. Since my profile was bare, I chose an avatar and uploaded some photos that I had also used for a scholarship application from Focus on Humanity. I didn’t really think much of it… until today when I got onto my computer at work and realized that they go through all of the galleries that are submitted each month and choose a winning gallery. The reward is only 50 dollars, but some of the guild members are photographers that I really admire.
This is a screen shot of the IGVP homepage. You can also find my gallery here
I am getting married in 2 weeks and I couldn’t be more ready/excited. I am excited for the wedding day, but I am excited for what comes next. I am excited to spend every day with Laura. Excited to share our lives in love together. I never expected that I would be with someone so perfect for me. In my head, I always figured I would have to settle in one way or another, but I am not. I am blessed beyond belief.
It’s difficult to know where to begin to describe my time in Ethiopia. I arrived from Uganda in good spirits, until I found out that I didn’t have a ride from the airport to anywhere. I hung around for a couple hours, then decided to try and find my way to the YWAM Mercy Development Center further in the city. It was my first time visiting Addis Ababa in the rainy season and the weather couldn’t have been more different that my previous 2 visits to the beautiful country. Mud and water were everywhere and it was cold.
When I first saw the children over three years ago, they had been just that – children, but seeing them now, three years later, so many of them are grown up. They are getting to be, or are already, adults. The scene was difficult to take in, but I am thankful that they have grown up so well and are dreaming big as far as what they want to do with their lives. The second day I was in Addis, I started taking pictures of the children for the sponsorship packets. We set up a photoshoot in the common room which has a blank white wall, much like the seamless that we have at Northwest. They boys all wanted to wear their best clothes and act famous in front of the camera. We had a great time.
A few days later, I left for Soddo. A friend of mine from Westmont, and a former roommate in Seattle, Sam lives there with another friend Noah and Katie. Together, they help facilitate an orphan care center than is part of a larger care organization in Ethiopia. They have been living there for the better part of a year and have a few months to go. The plan was to get media content for the CC Ethiopia website. On the way to Soddo, however, I started feeling very cold and feverish. The 6 hour ride down there with my 30lb camera bag wasn’t necessarily helping much and when I arrived in Soddo, I already needed a rest. Sam and I were able to catch up and talk about the orphan care center. We talked about the problems in Ethiopia and how they add to the orphan situation. We talked about Ethiopia as a whole, orphan care, and what really works. I went to bed feeling a little better, but didn’t end up falling asleep for a while. I had felt the fever returning and couldn’t get comfortable. The next day we had made plans for going to another town even further south called Arbaminch. We had hoped to do some relaxing and wildlife viewing in the national park near Arbaminch. We had to wait until the next day, but in the meantime, I had been feeling the fever return. Sam, Noah, and Katie, as well as another staff member at the orphan care center, went to Arbaminch to eat and hang out in the city, while I took to resting. It ended up being one of the worst, most painful nights I can remember. The fever had risen causing my whole body to throb, my head to pound, and my skin to feel needle pricks with every movement. Nothing I could do could alleviate the pain. I thought to myself that hell must be a searingly hot pain like this that lasts forever. I didn’t sleep. In the morning, we were supposed to get into a boat to cross the lake into the national park, but I had to get to a hospital. I couldn’t live in such pain anymore. We hired a driver and began the long journey back to Soddo, to the Christian Hospital there. Sam, Noah, and Katie had built a relationship with some of the ex-pat couples that lived in the hospital compound and served in various roles as doctors in the hospital. We went straight to the emergency room and I began going through various tests to see what exactly was wrong with me.
The doctor came back with a report that I was carrying a high concentration of Malaria in my blood. He explained that it was the worst type of Malaria, but I could be treated and would recover. Since I was planning on going back to Addis Ababa in a couple of days and then on back to the US, they decided to keep me in the hospital for a couple of nights and hook me up to the I.V. It was the most effective way to get the medicine into my body while being able to monitor my progress. Sam wanted to stay with me in the hospital, and I didn’t object. The hospital in and of itself was a cross-cultural lesson, with many stories to look back on. It was also a time for reflection on the majority of my summer trip to Africa. I came with high hopes, with definite strategies, with plans and ideas, but I left with many questions. Pages and pages of journal reflection uncovered unseen problems, cultural barriers, and deep issues that I could only see the surface of.
As I made the long journey back to Seattle, I thought more and more about my role in Uganda and Ethiopia. My first layover in Addis on the way to Uganda had reminded me that I will never blend in to these places I have come to love. My experiences in each nation confirmed this. Sometimes it made me want to stop my feet. Sometimes I wanted to give up and run away. Sometimes I wondered if I was doing anything at all. But it comes down to this – God has given me something. I call it a gift of revelation that these children are important to him. I am honored to see this importance and God has grafted this part of His heart onto mine. No matter what I feel or what I do, these children are a part of me and I know that no matter how large or small the end result is, whatever I am able to accomplish matters because of the value that these lives have in the mind and heart of God. He started something in me, and no matter how good or bad I feel, He is faithful to complete it.
Keep an eye out for stories from Uganda and Ethiopia of how God has had his hand on the lives of these orphaned children. God’s plans for them are much like His plans for us. “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
Thank you so much for your prayers while I was away and for your financial gifts that made it possible to go and collect photos and stories. There is still much more work to be done here to get the sponsorship programs ready, so I would appreciate your prayers in this season. Blessings.
John Paul
I said goodbye to the children of St. Ameria. It was a good day though. There was a lot of happiness and joy, dancing and song. I was reminded more than even about why I came here. It was all for these little people. Their character development, care, and provision. They are made in the image of God and carry His beauty. They are broken and pained, yet continue to carry on and will make an impact on this world—for the time they were placed on it and long after they have left. They are distant to the mind of society, but remain close to the heart of God.
I am excited that I was able to get the information together for the sponsorship packets and have a better idea of how to go about the whole process. I was frustrated and overwhelmed how communication was difficult, but found that at the end, it all came together. No matter what the cultural or language barriers that exists. Edith’s heart beats and breaks for these children.
But now I am left with about 200 stories… stories that I am nervous to read. I am afraid of what I will find. My heart will break, no doubt. I heard the story of a girl today and what overwhelmed by it alone. I can’t imagine what the other 199 stories have to say. 200 pages of brokenness, yet hope. I find beauty in the paradox. Beauty in the fact that these children are wonderfully made for a specific purpose and can fully live that out. Bright lights in the world around them despite the pain they have had so far.
God, finish what you have started in the lives of these ones.
