World Religions: A digital photography portfolio

I decided to put up the pictures I created for my final portfolio in digital photography from this last fall. We had complete free creative reign for the project. I chose to reflect on my passion and career path, religion. We were required to have 12 pictures, so I chose to represent the world's 6 major religious traditions with 2 photographs each. My canvas of sorts that I photographed was nature. Nature is sacred to me, but I'm not alone; each of the major religions believe that nature is a beautiful creation by the divine, that it's intricately and intimately connected with us humans, and a combination of the two. On each of the pictures I listed a verse from that particular faiths sacred texts or traditions. Unfortunately, they are difficult to read on here, but I wrote the text below the pictures so that you can read them. I also included a distinctive element of each of these faiths that makes them unique and beautiful, including symbols and forms of worship.

I put these in a chronological order of sorts that the religions developed, but divided them into Western religions first followed by Eastern religions.

Enjoy!

Judaism:

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." Psalms 19:1

In the hill, the pine trees (the green ones) spell out Yahweh in Hebrew.

"Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." Psalms 50:14-15

The Jewish man (Well, he's actually a Messianic Jew, but shhhh!) pictured is demonstrating the way the priests would raise their arms up at the brazen altar at the tabernacle when the sacrifice was accepted by God as a form of worship. (That was at the "Holy Land" in Eureka Springs, AR.)

Christianity:

"And he said unto them, 'Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.' Immediately they left their nets and followed him." Matthew 4:19-20

The Chi-Rho symbol is on the "No fishing" sign. If you are unaware, the ChiRho was an early Christian symbol that was discrete because it had the appearance of an anchor, which also represented hope. It combined the first two letters of the name "Christ" in Greek.

"Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16

The man I merged into the photograph is a Christian monk.

Islam:

"I was a hidden treasure and I wanted to be known: That is why I created the world." Hadith

In the water is the text Allah in Arabic, which represents how creation reflects the divine, who is in this case, Allah.

"For with God are the keys of the unseen; no one knows them but God...and not a single leaf falls but God knows it." Qu'ran Surah 6

The man pictured is a Muslim with his prayer rug performing the pillar of daily prayer.

Hinduism:

"Wherever you find strength, or beauty, or spiritual power, you may be sure that these have sprung from a spark of my essence." Sri Krishna, The Bhagavad Gita

On the tree trunk to the left of the image is the ohm symbol, which represents Hinduism.


"Nothing in this world purifies like spiritual wisdom. It is the perfection achieved in time through the path of yoga, the path which leads to the Self within." Sri Krishna, The Baghavad Gita

In the center of the picture is a woman practicing yoga.

Taoism:

"When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you." Tao Te Ching

For this photo, I opted to express ultimate simplicity in nature which characterizes Taoism.


"Humanity emulates earth, earth emulates heaven, heaven emulates the Way, the Way emulates Nature." Tao Te Ching

In this photo I inclued the yin-yang symbol that represents Taoism. The yin-yang is used because it signifies total balance in all things.

Buddhism:

"The thought is calm, the speech and action are calm, in one who is liberated and gone to serenity by perfect knowledge." The Buddha, from the Dhammapada

Walking down the path is a Buddhist monk in his telling orange robe.

"The spirit of the best of men is spotless, like the lotus in the muddy water, which does not adhere to it." Lalitavistara Sutra

Throughout the water are lotus flowers floating on the water. The lotus flower is a powerful symbol of Buddhist teaching because it represents growing up out of muddy water into something beautiful and set apart.



I really enjoyed working on this project because I was able to work with two things I love: photography and religion.

Let me know what you think! :)



*All of the base photographs were taken by me on a digital camera. The images merged onto the photos included appropriated images, text, and my own photographs.