Photography Books

I received a mysterious package from my aunt and uncle in the mail Sunday afternoon. Photo Idea Index: Things was put together by Jim Krause. It's full of random, colorful pictures intended to inspire photographers who use standard digital equipment. Krause, as far as I can tell, often disregards typical photography "rules." His pictures are fun and quirky. What immediately endeared my to the book were all his photos of junkyards. He shoots busted up lightbulbs and seems to have an immensely fun time doing it. If you know me, you'll admit that is definitely something I would do:)

I really love this book. It's lying on my desk right now. I don't want to shut it!

Another photo art book I like is Boston's North End: Images and Recollections of an Italian-American neighborhood. Author Anthony Riccio interviewed countless Italians who live[d] in the northern district of Boston. This section of the city is quickly changing as the elderly immigrants die and the hip, urban culture encroaches on this rustic locale. After walking down the streets past the aging brick flats I was struck by the thought that someday soon this little society will be gone.

Riccio's book reminds one of the work of KayLynn Deveney- a photographer from New Mexico who moved to Wales and happened to meet 85-year-old Albert Hastings. With Hastings' permission, Deveney began photographing his daily activities. Her portraits are mellow and unobstrusive.

Deveney also befriended Edith and Len, an elderly couple who resided in a Welsh nursing home together. She tactfully photographed the couple who had been married for 7o years and told their story one frame at a time.
"It was clear that I could not come into Edith and Len's small room and be a fly on the wall. Nor did I wish to be. Nine months after my first visit with Edith and Len we had thoroughly and knowingly blurred the line between a conventional photographer-subject relationship and a friendship," Deveney writes.
The photos of people in the aforementioned books really aren't that glamorous. But in the end they are the ones that are remembered.
Anyway, I find them interesting.

Thoughts on Screwtape

   

    Martin Luther once remarked, “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.” When C.S. Lewis wrote his series of letters, purportedly from one demon to another, it seemed as if the epitome of witty mockery had finally been directed at the Devil - for the edification of many reading the slim book.Titled the “Screwtape Letters,” C.S. Lewis accomplished the seemingly impossible task of mocking Satan while writing from a demon’s point of view.
     Screwtape, the elder demon, sends patronizing letters to his nephew Wormwood, desperately trying to instruct the youthful spirit on the right methods of sending a human soul down the road to perdition, and the “Lowarchy of Our Father Below.” We never see Wormwood’s replies, but we know how he answers, thanks to Screwtape’s reaction to his relative’s immature nonsense. The administration of Hell has assigned Wormwood a Christian convert to beguile, who remains a shadowy and nameless character throughout the book. Wormwood, as a junior tempter, is constantly reproved by his “affectionate uncle,” for making idiotic blunders and foolish mistakes.
    Not merely an amusing chunk of comic prose, or an intriguing look at demonology, the author has used some imagination to present a speculative view on hell and temptation, that is of great value to the Christian reader.

    Some non-Christians like to complain about the content and style of this book. At best it is “quite boring,” “enormously overrated,” and “old hat, very old hat.” One reviewer suggested it would be good if it was only “One-third as long, and not so centered on Christianity.” The Screwtape Letters is so seeped in Christianity that it would be absolutely useless otherwise. There have been no attempts to write an atheistic “Screwtape Letters,” and it is highly unlikely that such an effort will be made in the future. The Screwtape Letters as a piece of good British writing may be appealing to Christians and non-Christians alike, but true appreciation of the work is reserved for those who believe the Bible to be the holy and inspired word of God.
The main intent of the author was to help believers gain a clearer view on truths that can be presented powerfully from the viewpoint of the Enemy.
    One person remarked “This book is great- if you are studying for a degree in divinity.” This seems to be a very strange suggestion, since The Screwtape Letters does not focus on subjects that are above the average man’s head. Instead, Wormwood’s uncle gives him “practical” advice on how to tempt the human into sin, a subject which all people aware of sin and temptation can easily comprehend. The Screwtape Letters discusses temptations that almost all Christians have experienced- and the speculation of how the demons go about the task of tempting is a valuable tool to combat Satan.

                                                            ******

     In the end, when Wormwood’s victim dies and is sent to heaven, the story seems to recall a verse from 1 Corinthians: “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” This would assuredly provoke Screwtape to grind his teeth, and wrathfully say “This is bad.”