A Photographic Bible Passage

There are many subjects ,topics, techniques and ideas to use with photography. Religious themes, stories and passages in the Bible or any other religious text can also be adapted to turn into a photographic project.

One such project that has world wide fascination and has been closely followed in recent years is the end of the world or the Apocalypse. Here is a abbreviated version of this Bible passage:

"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, called the Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John the Evangelist at 6:1-8. The chapter tells of a "'book'/'scroll' in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals". The Lamb of God/Lion of Judah (Jesus Christ) opens the first four of the seven seals, which summons forth four beings that ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses. Although some interpretations differ, the four riders are commonly^{[clarification needed]} seen as symbolizing Conquest, War, Famine^[3] and Death, respectively. The Christian apocalyptic vision is that the four horsemen are to set a divine apocalypse upon the world as harbingers of the Last Judgment.^{[4][1]" Wikipedia}

If one were to take for example the Apocalypse as a photographic theme the first place to start would be to research the Bible or other sources for information to the topic. The second thing would be to start formulating the types of images that one would use to represent the passage or theme.

By using the Apocalypse theme to do a photographic project you would need four subjects, four robes, appropriate props for each and four horses; one black, one white one pale and one red. As far as the colors for the pale and red horses a digital editing software program can be used to add color to them. The robes would have to be digitally colored separately or used already colored robes. The props would be easily found at most costume shops or can be made of wood or any other materials.

The harder part of the project would be to find suitable images for the more poignant scenes as described in the Bible. Scenes of war, plagues, mass ocean life deaths, oceans and rivers turning into blood and others would probably best be obtained from archived images as found in various historical and news sources and with the aid of a digital program or by recording images as they present themselves.

Also be aware that the photographic project may be part story or historical account and part photographic project. Scenes of devastation can be done by including scenes of an erupting volcano, a tornado aftermath, and many other images. Be however, sensitive to the human suffering that often accompanies such events.

By including some of your images with some others for various sources you can still conduct the project, just be sure to note when the images are yours and when they are not.

Note that there are various techniques that can be applied with a digital program that can make this project much easier to complete including the sandwiching or combining of two or more images into one main one.

Consider turning this project into a story or magazine article by adding a storyline to the images. This makes it easier for a magazine editor to accept the submissions since you are doing most of the work and making their job that much easier.

These images are easily shown in fine art galleries, by photographic stock houses and for specialized publications.

They can also be used by others when the theme is something that they are interested in or are involved in an organization that typically deals with this particular subject matter. Therefore consider and research the type of source for your submission choices.

A word of advise, try not to infuse your images or any writing with any personal feelings or ideas that have religious connotations. Doing so is risking possibly alienating any prospective audience members that have divergent ideas or concepts. Keep the project as generalized as possible.

Instead, your focus and efforts should be entirely on recording images that are representative of the topic as this goes with images obtained from other sources although this is easier said than done.

You therefore should exercise sensibility as well as having others critique and share their feelings after viewing the finished piece. Take whatever critique into consideration and consider making changes if they are warranted.

If your friends and family find your images offensive or not true to the theme of the project, audiences or buyers will be more critical and will probably not mince words about it.