I've always been involved in some capacity with church activities.  In recent years my contribution has been to use my camera skills in capturing activities and events.  From time to time something spiritually spectacular transpires and I always hope to be in the right place at the right time.  Two such events occurred that were completely unplanned and pleasantly surprising. The first event was at the Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center where the sun shined through dark morning storm clouds silhouetting the center's large spiritual cross located in the meditation yard.  The second event was the rainbow-like colors that draped the Corpus at St. Mark Catholic Church when an afternoon setting sun pierced through a stained glass window.  I feel so fortunate that I was able to capture these images.

Cross Silhouette

Every year the Men's Club from my church attends a weekend retreat at the Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center.  This one retreat I attended in October 2010 was a weekend of inspirational talks, camaraderie, and quite time to reflect on my current situations.  I brought my camera to capture images of the weekend events with the beauty and sanctity of the center's grounds.  The center is very close to the Southeast Florida coast with its meditation grounds on the Intracoastal Waterway.  I knew that one of my photographic goals for the weekend was to get a shot of the large cross during a sunrise.  On Sunday morning I set out early only to find that very dark and heavy storm clouds had rolled in and completely negated any chances of capturing a sunrise.  I walked around the center in disappointment when I came across a friend who said he was heading out to the area.  As I followed him, to my surprise, a slit in the storm clouds began to open showering the coast in streams of light.  This became the perfect opportunity to shoot the cross silhouette.  My friend is very spiritual and he said to me "I knew the clouds were going to open up for you".  I'm glad I followed.

Corpus at St. Mark Catholic Church, Southwest Ranches, Florida

Color Draped Corpus

My church celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a mass which I volunteered to photograph.  The mass was celebrated at 5:00 PM on a Saturday afternoon.  My typical setup is to traverse the back of the church with the telephoto lens and monopod.  On this day as the mass continued, sunlight began to slowly stream through a stained glass window.  Over the next five to ten minutes a rainbow moved across the Corpus and the back wall of the Alter.  I have attended many masses during this time frame and had never witnessed this phenomenon before.  As quickly as the colors began, they also faded.  I was very fortunate to be in the position I was in to capture this spectacular event.  Following the mass many of my friends noted seeing the transformation and felt blessed as well.

I feel very fortunate to have been able to capture these events as they were happening.  I am also glad to hear from the people who have been touched by these images which is big part of the reason why I love photography.

Have you photographed any "Devine Events", I'd like to hear about them.

Enjoy and remember,

"Moments in time are lived once. Images of those moments live forever."

Ed H.