Fujifilm X-E2, XF 55-200mm, ISO 2500, ƒ/5.6, 1/500 [Eastern Bluebird]

Imagery used as symbolism

In Native American culture, animals have specific meanings. For example, they attribute the bluebird to happiness, joy, and contentment.

Seeing bluebirds is a sign of Spring. This Thursday, March 20th, is the first day of Spring.

Fujifilm X-E2, XF 55-200mm, ISO 1250, ƒ/5.6, 1/500 [Red-bellied Woodpecker]

Many woodpeckers are protectors of the trees and refer to people who are protective of nature and their surroundings. It refers to an apparent surge of power and a dynamic outlook toward life. They are also symbolic of prophetic and mystic powers.

Most cultures use those things we see to help communicate truths through stories. However, when those things in nature are not always with us but come just during certain seasons, they help to remind us of values in our culture.

Fujifilm X-E2, XF 55-200mm, ISO 800, ƒ/5.6, 1/500 [Yellow-rumped Warbler]

Saint Patrick’s Day

Saint Patrick used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the trinity and helped establish Christianity in Ireland.

When he was about 16, he was captured from his home in Great Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After becoming a cleric, he returned to northern and western Ireland. In later life, he served as an ordained bishop, but we know little about the places where he worked. By the seventh century, he was the patron saint of Ireland.

We observe Saint Patrick’s Day on March 17th, the date of his death.

What is powerful to me about his story is that he went back to Ireland after being treated as an enslaved person by them.

Migration

Birds and people migrate in search of work—the adage of the early bird getting the worm is why they look to work.

Nikon D3S, 24-120mm, ISO 4000, ƒ/6.3, 1/1000

This coffee farmer used to migrate to Atlanta from Mexico to find work to support his family. However, he no longer must migrate due to fair trade for his coffee.

Nikon D3S, 24-120mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/5.3, 1/60

Tommy Bassett heard the story of the migrant coffee farmers from Daniel Cifuentes in 2001, and by 2002 they had formed a cooperative.

Saint Patrick and Tommy Bassett traveled not to find work but to liberate people. Saint Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland, and Tommy helped to bring hope to the coffee farmers in Salvador Urbina and El Aguila, located in the Chiapas region of Mexico.

Today JustCoffee.org has changed the lives of more than sixty farmers, their families, and their communities.

Today many of us will Wear Green and avoid the tradition of getting pinched for not wearing it. The symbolism is to draw our attention back to Saint Patrick today. He migrated to Ireland to do God’s work in telling the good news of Jesus Christ.

Fujifilm X-E2, XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/8, 1/35

March is the time of year when our family craves ice cream. So one of the places when I drive by often get me to pull in, is Bruster’s Real Ice Cream.

Power of images

Today I hope every photographer takes a photo that will help remind people of something about the world in which we live that calls people to action. That is the power of the photograph.