As I have implied in previous posts, photography is about capturing moments.  I was talking to my dad a week or so ago about copyrights.  If the photo is a portrait, does the person in the photo get credit for creating the image?  If it is a scene, does it belong to the owner of the property?  Who gets credit for the photo?

It would be easy for me to explain that the person behind the camera had the creative and technical ability to create the image.  Clearly, they spent the time to setup the equipment and make adjustments to get the perfect photo.  They hit the shutter button and the image appeared.

Well, what if there is more to it than that?  Genesis one points us to the creator of everything around us.  The flower was not my creation.  I merely witnessed it blooming.  Maybe it blooms one time a year and I have to be there at just the right time to be able to capture the moment.  Maybe it blooms twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty two weeks a year.  For how many years?  Eternity?

At the end of the year, we find it fitting to reflect on things past and look forward to things to come.  Ecclesiastes three is one of my favorite passages out of one of my favorite books, because it reminds me to give “Credit to the Creator.”  There is nothing I am witnessing that has not happened before, and can happen again. (Ecclesiastes 3)  I cannot add anything to God’s creation nor take anything away from it.  I am merely witnessing the creation, and all I can do is stand in awe of everything the Creator made.

Yes, I place a copyright on my photos.  Ideally, I would like to have the credit for the photos I take.  However, the equation is not complete without giving credit to God.  I cannot take credit for creating the scene before me.  The equation cannot be complete without giving Him credit for everything He has done and continues to do.

In closing, I have a simple request.  Take some time this year to start looking at the world through the lens of the Creator of all the heavens and earth – everything stretched out in all directions.  Our pastor put it plainly, this morning – “What did the wise men do [when they arrived to see the baby]?  They dropped to their knees.  They truly were wise men.”  I may have paraphrased that a little bit.  The implication is the same.