Interview

      I recently interviewed Timothy Mielke, owner of Mielke Way Photography, and campus photographer for both Pillsbury Baptist Bible College and Maranatha Baptist University, in order to gain a professional opinion on whether or not an individual can use photography to impact our society and portray personal religious beliefs. Pulling the two main questions from the interview that pertain to this particular question, I've included two of his responses in Q and A form: 

1. Q: Do you feel that photography can be an effective way to communicate with other people online? 

  
 A: The visual medium of photography is very powerful in telling what words cannot. For example, nobody reads an article without first being drawn in by the photograph. Our culture has become media orientated and saturated in visual communication. Unfortunately there is a lot of poor visual communicating out there too. I believe there has never been a better time to communicate the proper message effectively with pictures and design. 


2. Q: Do you believe photography can be used to witness to others? Have you attempted this in your photography before? 

    A: I have done photography for friends who could not pay for my services as a way to reach out and build a trust relationship. In my classes, I used the example of the human eye being much more complex than the camera and the lens. You cannot tell me that we evolved from what was at one time pond scum. This leads to the belief that God created human life and loves us very much. In addition a loving, all powerful creator leads us to see how we are dependent on Him for everything in our life, from the very air we breathe to the forgiveness of our sins. I am currently in an Master of Fine Arts Photography program and am using my projects as a chance to introduce many of my classmates to God’s Word. I update my business Facebook page with pictures of the projects I am currently working on.

I believe it is fairly apparent from Mr. Mielki's responses that photography can indeed be used in an incredible way within our society. I also believe that photography from a Biblical standpoint is significantly lacking in the media world, and I personally look forward to potentially contributing to this certain area in the years to come. 

For all you photographers out there who are believers in Christ, I'd challenge you to consider  your photography, whether it be a hobby or business, from a different perspective- a Biblical perspective.  The Bible itself commands us to glorify God in everything that we do (1 Corinthians 10:31), so go out there and find a way to glorify God with a camera!