San Francisco in color

After publishing a post last week on black and white images from San Francisco, I felt I couldn’t omit publishing some images in color as well. Many photographers prefer to shoot in color, and it’s easy to see why. Color photos help the viewer to imagine the scene as it was experienced by the photographer. They help convey to us a sense of the place and can vividly engage our imagination.

Some images need to be in color. The images I made in the Museum of Modern Art, for example, need to be in color in order to convey what the artist was trying to do.

Color landscapes are also a good way to convey the experience of what it was like to be there. Although photographs are no substitute for being there, they help us to imagine, to put details to general images we might have about the place.

In the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius encourages us to engage in meditation in which we take a gospel scene and imagine ourself as part of the story, seeing the colors, smelling the smells, hearing the sounds, engaging with the people in the story. These meditations are like photos that transport us from the mundane to the spiritual. They allow us to engage in a story that uplifts us and moves us forward.

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.” (I Corinthians 2:9)