An atheist photographer focuses on faith

[rug]

December 7th, 2013
09:16 AM ET
Opinion by Mark Schacter, special to CNN
Mark Schacter is a photographer based in Ottawa, Canada. His website is www.luxetveritas.net.

(CNN) – I don’t believe in a divine presence, nor do I subscribe to any organized religion.

And that, perhaps oddly, is why I am drawn to the mystery of faith.

With the wonderment of an outsider, I try to understand the seemingly incomprehensible (to me, at least) pull that faith exerts over so many people's lives.

As a photographer approaching this mystery, I am confronted by what might seem like a contradiction: Photographs capture what can be seen, and yet faith is often invisible.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/07/an-atheist-photographer-focuses-on-faith/

Photo gallery at link.

[cbayer]

1. Some beautiful shots.

I am really enjoying visiting the Missions here. They are all different and all inspirational in their own way.

The history is not often pretty, though. Perhaps that is part of what makes them even more fascinating.

Sadly, I am not a photographer, but I am glad there are those that are inspired by these places.

[rug]

2. The Spanish missions in Baja?

[cbayer]

3. Yep. Amazing places.

I've seen 4 now and have a few more on my list.

[rug]

4. Timely.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/Nov/24/junipero-serra-300-birthday-anniversary/

[cbayer]

5. Good piece.

There is a great walk in Santa Fe NM that outlines the time line of the Native and Spanish interactions over time. Fascinating stuff.

I also love Willa Cather's stories about that area and the conflicts that swirled around it.

Having been raised on the East Coast, they didn't teach of much of anything about this.

Mexico is just adding a whole new layer.

[pinto]

6. Frank Loyd Wright designed a church, who knew. (aside) I live in a mission town.

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is a Spanish mission founded in 1772 by Father Junípero Serra in the present-day city of San Luis Obispo, California. Named after Saint Louis of Anjou, the bishop of Toulouse, the mission is the namesake of the city of San Luis Obispo and San Luis Obispo County.

The Mission church of San Luis Obispo is unusual in its design in that its combination of belfry and vestibule is found nowhere else among the California missions. The main nave is short and narrow (as is the case with other mission churches), but at San Luis Obispo there is a secondary nave of almost equal size situated to the right of the altar, making this the only "L"-shaped mission church among all of the California missions.

Thanks for the photography snag.

[rug]

7. I didn't know that.

Wright and this photographer seem to share similar views.

Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the most admired and influential architects of the 20th century. He was a flamboyant, unabashedly arrogant man who viewed himself from an early age as a genius. Others tended to agree. In 1991, The American Institute of Architects named Wright the greatest American architect of all time.

Wright believed that the adage “form follows function” was something of a misstatement. “Form and function should be one,” he said, “joined in a spiritual union.” A sense of spiritual union ran all through Wright’s work. He identified God with Nature (which he spelled with a capital “N”) and strove to design buildings that were in harmony with their natural surroundings. “No house should ever be on a hill or on anything,” Wright wrote in his 1932 autobiography. “It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together each the happier for the other.”

Wright spoke about life and the creativity of man in mystical terms. In this rare recording from June 18, 1957, a 90-year-old Wright describes his philosophy. “Man is a phase of Nature,” he says, “and only as he is related to Nature does he matter, does he have any account whatever above the dust.”

http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/frank_lloyd_wright_reflects_on_creativity_nature_and_religion_in_rare_1957_audio.html

[edhopper]

8. Wright designed quite a few religious buildings

he felt being agnostic helped him to interact with all religions and denominations.

Try googling "frank lloyd wright churches" images