Faces of Faith
Why are we here and where are we going? When I was a child, my religion told me that if you were not a Christian, then, ha ha, you were going to hell. That didn’t feel right to me and I put Religion away with Santa and the Easter Bunny. Later in life, as a 20-something slacker, photography and spirituality came to me at the same time, one allowing the exploration of the other. This 20-year essay is the chronological result of those explorations.
In this life, I was born in the frozen tundra of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Frozen tundra is of course redundant but so it goes. I was raised in the Lutheran tradition and after Catechism class, my Pastor pulled me aside and told me he thought I should consider becoming a Pastor. I guess he hadn’t seen me reading comic books during his sermons.
I wasn’t much interested in religion or spirituality until a rugby teammate at the University of Minnesota gave me a copy of one of Carlos Castaneda’s books as a graduation gift. Just about the same time I had my first feature story – which I wrote and photographed - printed in the school newspaper, The Minnesota Daily.
The first photo in this essay was made in 1990 in the Badlands of South Dakota. Castaneda was on the nightstand and in my mind when I bought a six-pack and headed out to make some of my first shots on slide film. After about 4 hours alone, at night, in the Badlands I felt this ominous, foreboding presence coming toward me. I ran back to my jeep, threw my stuff in - I remember not taking my camera off my tripod - and took off feeling like I needed to keep my head down.
Castaneda writes about learning to boost one’s concentration to see other energies and planes of existence. I wondered if I could apply his ideas of spirituality to photography and literally learn to see more, to see differently, to become more aware. I liked the idea. For the first time, I became interested in spirituality. Years later I saw Robert Frank’s exploration of that theme in The Americans.
I’m curious about spirituality; about other people’s beliefs. Marvel Comics led to Greek and Norse mythologies. The Aztecs performed human sacrifices in the name of religion and Christians drink the symbolic blood of their Savior. This essay isn’t an in-depth, comprehensive, documentary project on Earth’s Religions. It’s my exploration of what’s on the menu… I don’t believe non-Christians are going to hell and if you take that fundamental concept out of Christianity, you have nothing left. I needed something in which to believe. I needed something that rang true to my soul. Photography enabled me to search, to look over the menu and, brick by brick, to develop my own belief system.
And so, like me, this is a work in progress. And while I’m not comfortable discussing what I believe (and really, who cares?) I will say that I’m not a church goer but that I do like chorale music early Sunday morning.
As such, each photograph deserves a little description or caption that you’ll find if you follow the link to my site. But here I’ll just reference a few highlights:
I agonized whether I should make the photo of Mother Teresa. I was in Calcutta retracing Mark Twain’s route around the world on the 100th anniversary of his trip. I think I made three frames and left her alone. When she came out of the room she blessed me and gave me her business card! She died less than a year later.
Hinduism is a fascination for me. It’s almost like Greek Mythology come to life. Did you know they consider sound to be a god? After listening to Ravi Shankar in concert I understood a little better. They also believe the Ganges River is a goddess and that if you die in Varanasi and are cremated along the banks of the Ganges, you are granted instant salvation. The guy with the big stick is called a Dom and he uses it to break the skull and thus release the soul to heaven.
In 1997, I was back in Green Bay working on a project about the Green Bay Packers. The Packers were heading to the Super Bowl for the first time since Vince Lombardi was coach and the Holy Martyrs of Gorcum’s marquee combines the town’s two religions (for those who don’t know, that’s a quote from Lombardi on the marquee).
A year later and I’m at the Jose Marti Airport in Havana photographing Pope John Paul’s departure. I love the way Fidel is standing. He was so deferential to the Pope. I think the Pope will be the second Saint I’ve photographed.
Outside Havana a man ties a giant rock to his leg and crawls on his back for miles to martyr himself during the St. Lazarus procession.
Fast forward to the Fall of 2011 and I’m teaching a Photo Essay class at the Glasscock School of Continuing Education at Rice University and one of my students is doing an essay on churches in Houston – he calls it: Structures of Faith. Desmond Tutu is in the news… he’s very upset that the South African government has denied a visa to the Dalai Lama. “I’ve photographed both of them,” my mind says… “And Mother Teresa, the Pope… you should make an essay… Faces of Faith.”
And so, like me, this is a work in progress. And while I’m not comfortable discussing what I believe (and really, who cares?) I will say that I’m not a church goer but that I do like chorale music early Sunday morning.
Namaste.
About the Author
Daniel Kramer
Daniel Kramer is a documentary photographer based in Houston, Texas. His work has been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally and is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In more than 20 years as a documentary photographer Kramer has shot for Newsweek, Stern, US News & World Report as well as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
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Faith