Page 11 - Priorities #21 2003-January

Benedictine Letter
Idon’t remember exactly when it was that I began my interest in photography, but I think it might have been in the seventh or eighthgradeingrammarschool. I was fascinated by the mechanics of the camera itself and decided to create a darkroom in the damp cellar of the house on Seymour Avenue in Newark, New Jersey where we lived.
For a time, I was hooked on
taking pictures and then processing
the film and making prints in my very primitive darkroom. Mostofmyequipmentwaspurchasedat one of the many hock shops that abounded downtown.
As often happens, my life became more involved and other interests supplanted photography as I movedintohighschool. ButdeepdownIretaineda sense that photography would again be a part of my life—andithas. FormanyyearsatthePrioryithas brought joy to me. I have been able to record over a quarter of a century of Priory students and share some of my experiences and knowledge with students who took my photography class.
The shutter in a modern camera has the ability to move at an incredible speed, sometimes as fast a 1/4000ofasecond—thebriefestsliceoftime. It captures something that takes place for only a very small fraction of a second and freezes that moment in animagethatisbothpermanentandpowerful. I think of the pictures which have impacted the lives of people in various ways with their ability to evoke a mood and tell a story: little John Kennedy with his mother at the funeral; a napalm-burned child
screaming in pain in Viet Nam; the magnificence of an Ansel Adams mountainscape; the agony of 9/11. They hold for us such stories, such memories, and yet they are only a thinsliceoftime. Itisinthe remaining bulk of time that the actual stories are written.
I love to challenge the students in my class to “look for the story.” What does this image suggest and whatstorydoesittell? Whatdo you see? This exercise in
imagination opens up mental possibilities and sharpens thinking.
I have a collection of many hundreds of photographs of the students who have entered the Priory community and who have written their own stories as they have grown into young men and women. AndIwillalwaysenjoywatching,withthe eye of the photographer, the unfolding of the stories of our present students—written on the playing fields, in community service, on our stage, in classrooms, at dances and in Red Square.
These images, these brief slices of life, help me realize the value of time and of the present moment.
May each one of us be thankful for the time we are given. Let us use it wisely and with courage, painting our picture and writing our own stories with broad, crisp strokes.
Sincerely,
Father Martin Mager, OSB
Superior of the Benedictine Community
The camera captures something that takes place for only a very small fraction of a second. It freezes that moment in an image that is both permanent and powerful.
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