Posted on 06/10/2014 1:38:38 AM PDT by markomalley
Actually, they are fumbling with their cell phone cameras. Some are scrambling up the side aisle to “get the shot.” Others are holding the “phone” up in the air to get the blurry, crooked shot. The tussling continues in the side aisle as parents muscle to get in place for “the shot.” If “the shot” is gotten, success! If not, “woe is me.” Never mind that a sacrament has actually been offered and received, the point was “the shot,” the “photo-op.”
Consider another scene. It is First Holy Communion. Again, the children are assembled. This time the parents have been informed that a single parishioner has been engaged to take shots and could they please refrain from amateur photography. This is to little avail, “Who does that deacon think he is telling me to refrain, denying me the shot!?” The cell phones still stick up in the air. Even worse, the parish photographer sends quick word via the altar server, “Could Father please slow down a bit in giving the children communion? It is difficult to get a good shot at the current (normal) pace.” After the Mass the photographer has two children along side, could Father perhaps “re-stage” the communion moment for these two since, in the quick (normal) pace of giving Communion, their shot was bad, as the autofocus was not able to keep up…”Look how blurry it is Father.”
It would seem the picture is the point.
I have seen it with tourists as well. I live just up the street from the US Capitol and it is fascinating to watch the tourists go by on the buses. Many of them are so busy taking a picture of the Capitol (a picture they your get in a book, or find on the Internet), that I wonder if they ever see the Capitol with their own eyes.
The picture is the point.
Actually I would propose, it is NOT the point. Real life and actual experience are the point. Further, in the Liturgy, the worship and praise of God, the experience of his love, and attentiveness to his Word is the point. Cameras, more often than not, cause us to miss the point. We get the shot but miss the experience. Almost total loss if you ask me.
At weddings in this parish we speak to the congregation at the start and urge them to put away all cameras. We assure the worried crowd that John and Mary have engaged the services of a capable professional photographer who will be able to record the moment quite well. “What John and Mary could use most from you now are your prayers for them and expressed gratitude to God who is the author and perfecter of this moment.” Yes, we assure them, now is the time for prayer, for worship and for joyful awareness of what God is doing.
Most professional photographers are in fact professional and respectful and know how to stay back and not become a part of the ceremony but to discretely record it. It is rare that I have trouble with them. Videographers still have a way to go as a group, but there are many who I would say are indeed professional.
Pastorally it would seem appropriate to accept that photos are important to people to make reasonable accommodations for photos. For major events such as weddings, confirmations, First Communions and Easter Vigils, it seems right that we should insist that if photos are desired, a professional be hired. This will help keep things discrete, and permit family and others to more prayerfully experience the sacred moments. Infant Baptisms are a little more “homespun” and it would seem that the pastor should speak with family members about limiting the number of amateur photographers, and be clear about where they should stand.
That said, I have no photos of my Baptism, First Communion or Confirmation. I have survived this (terrible) lack of “the shot” quite well. Frankly, in the days I received these sacraments, photos of the individual moment were simply not done in the parishes I attended. Some parishes did have provisions for pictures in those days. The photo at upper right is of Cardinal O’Boyle at St. Cyprian’s in Washington DC in 1957. But as for me, I do have a photo of me taken on my way to Church for First Communion, but there is no photo of me kneeling at the rail. I am alive and well. There are surely photos of my ordination. But I will add, the Basilica and the Archdiocese were very clear as to the parameters. Only two professional photographers were allowed, (My Uncle was one of them them) and the place where they worked was carefully delineated.
Hence, pastoral provisions are likely necessary in these “visual times” which allow some photos. Yet as St. Paul says regarding the Liturgy: But let all things be done decently, and according to order (1 Cor 14:40).
A final reiteration: Remember the photo is not the moment. The moment is the moment and the experience is the experience. A photo is just a bunch of pixels, lots of 0's and 1's, recorded by a mindless machine and printed or displayed by a mindless machine. A picture is no substitute for the actual experience, the actual prayer, the actual worship that can and should take place at every sacred moment and it every sacred liturgy.
Interesting point.
I would bet a lot of people never even look at their billions of digital shots again.
Sure, there’s the Instagram folks or people who process them in various ways, but the great majority of people holding their cameras up at mass are probably never going to look at them, show them to anyone or do anything but store them in the cloud until they need to delete them to make room for more.
What people are looking for is something immediate.
I think if professional photographs could be obtained on the spot - that is, sent immediately after the event to the buyer’s email or phone - that would make them more attractive. And, of course, if churches started telling people not to take photos during the mass, it would make it the only option!
28 Therefore, receiving an immoveable kingdom, we have grace: whereby let us serve, pleasing God, with fear and reverence.
Taking pictures instead of praying would seem to negate the "fear and reverence". Plenty of "memories of that special day" can be photographed before and after the sacred ceremony.
I hear you. It’s just a photography dream, never realized. Richard Avedon was my studio hero.
Can you please cite the verse please. Thank-you.
Do you have any info about Richard Avedon, since I also enjoy taking pictures myself.
......Yet “perfect love casts out ALL FEAR.”
I took my kids to Disneyworld in the mid 90s when video cameras first became pervasive (but I didn't own one). I watched the parents (usually dad) walk around the park filming every moment of the day. These parents rarely interacted with their children who were supposed to be having a very special day in their lives.
I always wondered was expected to watch 12 hours of "Our Day at Disney".
Problem though is trying to enforce such a rule.
Found the passage of scripture:
Hebrew 12:28-29.
In one of my last gigs I was transmitting from my camera on the floor of a basketball showcase directly to the Twitter Feed of the client. That is certainly a lifetime from sending proofs out later that week.
If you cannot keep up, you die. I kept up, but I did not want to after a while.
Yes, it’s hard. In any case, I’m sure there’ll be something else soon, no matter what.
But I bet that nobody has ever looked at their cell phone vids of that game, but what you sent to your client is proudly shown at his fan events.
When I see these things Matthew 21.13 comes to mind. “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.” Or, in this case, a photography studio. Recently my son graduated from the local Catholic school, and they had a big Mass for the event. Naturally, people had to take tons of pictures, and in so doing ended up wandering all around the sanctuary, and nobody gave any notice or thought to the Sacrament which was present there. Is that what the Lord wants from us? Trampling around his temple, and all around the altar at that, for a good pic? I find it obnoxious and scandalous. It teaches the young to disregard the truth of the faith for other worldly concerns, like having pictures. There have been two thousand years of saints, all of whom received the sacraments, and very few of which had pictures of those moments. Those moments are not about getting pictures, but God. Until we turn away from ourselves and toward the Lord we are lost.
People usually do what they’re told in church. Just announce it before mass and have the ushers give them a stern look if it seems they’re violating it. Plus, the other people around them won’t like what they’re doing and the disapproval will probably work to enforce it.
Even non-Catholic visitors are ok with rules like this. When tourists come into the Cathedral and I’m giving tours, they always ask if it’s ok to take photos. It is, so I can say yes, but if I told them they couldn’t, they’d be okay with that.
We have to give people a little more credit, IMHO. They just need to be told what’s expected of them.
There’s a bunch of his pictures online. Also, an hour long documentary about him. He had a phenomenal career.
You got that right.
Even my parish church does ask folks to shut their cell phones off for the mass worship, although some folks forget that from time to time.
My present parish priest will be leaving at the end of the month and whoever comes in as new priest afterwards, I would not be surprise that things will get stricter, got to wait and see.
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