The development of photography is very interesting to me. Even though most people have always seen things in color, unless they are colored blind, pictures, and photography back in the day, started out as being black and white. The general concept of reflecting an image using what was called ‘camera obscura’ or ‘pinhole imaging’ dates to the 4th century BCE, was described by Aristotle over 2300 years ago, and has evolved over time. Hundreds of years later the concept of making glass and metal negatives became popular, and some may be familiar with this concept from old western movies. However, this was not cost effective for the average household budget, therefore, research continued. George Eastman was the first to market an affordable, single roll paper camera for consumers in 1888, called the Kodak. Though it could hold 100 pictures, they were still in black and white. In the early 1900’s his Kodak called ‘The Brownie’ became a middle class favorite. This made the Eastman Kodak company the largest in America. Their slogan was, “You press the button; we do the rest.” They dominated the photography world until the 1990’s when digital processing began to take over the scene.
James Clerk Maxwell a Scottish mathematician and scientist had come up with a method to produce color photography in 1855. In 1861, Thomas Sutton is accredited as taking the first color photo of a tri-colored ribbon, using Maxwell’s method. Though people did not have confidence that his theory really worked at the time, it is still the concept that prevails today in color photography development. Because it took so long to develop photos at that time, as research continued, Edwin Land brought to us the first polaroid in 1948, which was known as an instant camera, because you got to see the photo right away, yet still in black and white. It was thanks to Eastman Kodak once again, who developed the revolutionary color camera for still photography, with a built in flash, in 1976. Wow, this is hard to believe, I was already 14 years old! However, this is just a drop in the bucket as to the history of photography, for the sake of this article, and I will allow each of you to explore the rest of this fascinating subject on your own.
Over the years, I have thought that silhouettes were also very fascinating. They are basically the shadow of a real figure, be it a person, an animal, or any object. These are usually in solid black. For example, have you ever seen a cowboy leaning up against a tree in someone’s yard, or a girl with a dog? They remind me of when I was young, when we took pictures, we would have to take the film into the pharmacy to be developed and wait a week or two to pick them up. When we did, we would also be given the negatives. You could hold them up toward the light and see the actual image that was portrayed in the developed picture. These could also be mounted in frames, which they would call slides, which could be projected by light onto a screen or wall for everyone in the room to see the ‘slide show’. My folks used to do this when they came back to the United States on furlough from their African missions’ journeys. This would allow people to feel more a part of and see firsthand the people, the culture, the projects, and advancements they were talking about, and trying to raise funds for. This would tug on the heartstrings a bit more because you have just gone from fiction to fact by showing the visual proof to the audience. Humans are more easily motivated by visual stimulation.
Though you might persuade women through a heartfelt story, men will normally judge upon what they see and not with emotions. A woman will innately put her emotions into decision making. She could meet a man who may not be tall dark and handsome, that she saw in her dreams, however, if he makes her laugh, he is kind, shows her attention, and treats her with respect, she will give him a chance. In the 21st century especially, due to advanced technology, people are very visually oriented. We have fourteen devices going at one time. Somehow wanting or needing to have all our five senses working simultaneously, at all times. This may not necessarily be good or bad but that would be another research for another day, however we do have quite a bit of new found diagnoses of ADHD problems that we did not have before the advent of multiple electronic devices that we can have at our disposal 24/7. Something to think about. In our childhood, if you were hyper, you were sent outside to play! The advent of polaroid in the 40’s and the microwave oven for home use in the 60’s was right up our alley of instant gratification. We have come to rely on others to entertain us, when we can just open our eyes and see for ourselves that there is beauty all around us.
To grasp the concept of a negative or silhouette, you can stare at something for a little while, close your eyes, and you will see the black and white version of what you were just looking at. If you are in the dark, and it is pitch black, you will not be able to decern color, but everything will be in black and white, shapes and shadows. When someone is getting a black and white photo developed nowadays, to put on a canvas or to post on Facebook, it is just a choice or preference, and considered to be retro or vintage. They may think it looks cool because everything is now offered in color. You can go see an old black and white movie that you watched as a kid, that has now been put into Technicolor. For there to be color, there must be light, and for us to enjoy life and the color around us, we must open our eyes and let the light in.
I think it would be very sad to be blind, especially from birth. You would not have the privilege of enjoying color, and knowing what things even look like. You would be in darkness. Though someone could describe color to you, you would still not really know what a flower or a tree, your pretty dress, or your loved ones looked like. You would have to rely on your other senses of smell, touch, and taste; however, you would never have the whole experience of the beauty of bright, vibrant color, that God has granted us, even with your eyes open. If you went blind later in life, you would at least have the memories of what you had previously seen when you had sight.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6 states, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Light, knowledge and life go hand in hand. The Bible says that people who reject truth are blinded because they do not accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah. This pertains to both the Jews and the Gentiles. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. Once you reject life the only alternative is the opposite, negativity, darkness, and death.
Matthew 6:22-23 tells us, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” We must live with our eyes open and with a singleness of heart, serving one master with one purpose. James 1:22-25 states, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” If you have sight, there is no justification for you not going ahead and washing your dirty face before leaving the mirror, physically or spiritually. Pretending all is well without correcting things, you are only deceiving yourself, because everyone else can see. This would be called denial as they say these days and would just be confirmation of your blindness. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 14:38, “But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.” 2 Peter 3:2-6, “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:” Our blindness, darkness and negativity is often self-imposed and self-inflicted.
Ephesians 4:17-19 admonishes us, “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.” We do live in a world where everything around can seem negative, but what counts is how we respond. There are those who can respond to something so positive and turn it into a negative, but the opposite is also true. We have the light of the Lord within us to shine and help us see something good in every situation. We can find good and reject evil. You can see the dead drift wood in the pond or choose to see the blossoming tree beside the pond. Often depression is brought upon us because we are constantly wallowing in our own misery and refusing to look past the problem and see the solution, or the light at the end of the tunnel. There is help and healing for this state of mind if we just open our eyes and look for it.
When I was young, as I mentioned, we would proudly take photos with our little personalized cameras and take the film in to be developed. Weeks later when we picked up the prints, they would allow us to look at them before purchasing them to see if the pictures turned out okay. What we saw with our eyes was not always what would show up in the actual photo. They could be blurry, or an unrecognizable image, the heads or feet chopped off, or what was called a double exposure. Double exposure is where the first and second photo would mesh and overlap in some form and could place two distinct settings or persons from separate occasions and places within the same photo. Of course, this is done on purpose nowadays with PowerPoint or video, as a featured effect, but in those days, it was considered a faulty or flawed picture and you could choose to not pay for it. Something had gone wrong with the camera during the snapping action or with the picture at development. Sometimes when we have lived with a negative outlook and attitude or in sin, for such a long time, and we finally make that decision and gesture toward changing with God’s help, we can often have double vision and double exposure at first. You open your eyes to see the beauty, color, and positivity around you, but there is that nagging negativity that still pulls at you and tries to obscure the good. Keep your eyes open and allow the light of God’s word and Spirit to put things into perspective for you. Do not allow Satan to trick you into closing your eyes again and retreating into darkness and misery. 1 Peter 2:9-10 says, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light; Which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”
One last example from our paper print photography days that was common, were rows and rows of photo albums. There were no personal computers, Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media site that could act as our electronic storage or album. They were all physical books. Often when going through them and reminiscing about the events in the pictures, we would come across a photo that was torn in half. If someone had an argument with a boyfriend that they were once so in love with, or went through a divorce with their spouse, or had a falling out with a friend or family member, they would literally be torn out of the picture. If you have someone in your life who should not be there, though you do not have physical printed photos to tear, there are relationships that should be severed. There is no room for those ‘negative Nancys’, grouchy naysayers, or evil influencers in our lives. They are trying to superimpose themselves into your picture and you do not have to buy into that. Clipping them out of your life, separating yourself from them and creating space between you and them, will allow light to shine in and be an eye opener to a whole new way of living.
The News today is so focused on the negative, that we often forget that there is genuine kindness and goodness in the world. It is our responsibility to search out the good and decide what we allow our eyes to see and our hearts to absorb. To live with your eyes open will allow you to find blessings, goodness, love, mercy, and peace in your everyday life, regardless of whether you are with others or alone. God has given us the great gift of sight, both physically and spiritually. Let us not live in darkness, depression, and discouragement by closing our eyes but let us open our eyes and ingest all that is around us, knowing that even greater things are to come for the child of God. 1 Corinthians 13:12 states, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” It is said of amateur photographers that they did not realize through the years, how ‘clear and crisp’ a picture could be until the invention of digital cameras. As such, our eyes have not seen anything yet, compared to what is in store for us, when we are face to face with the Lamb that was slain for us. In the meantime, while we await His return, open your eyes, and enjoy all the simple yet majestic things that surround you. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Well said!