Reflections of Christ

A rambling invitation from Mark.

"Reflections of Christ" has become all consuming for me in so many ways. Most of my day is spent responding to inquiries, making prints for people, and working on our other projects (a different topic for a different post) . For me, the best part is to hear, and see, stories of people as they react to the strait-forward artistic attempts that make up this project. I'm perfectly aware that people are reacting to the subject matter- The Savior- and not necessarily any artistic brilliance.  Through the use of  photography many of the frills that we've gotten used to in portrayals of the Savior have been scaled back. The viewer is left with a very organic visual experience.

The newness of the art form elicits comments. Most are short and very sweet. A few others have been short and antagonistic. Some are such powerful stories that they have changed my life. 

People of  Christian faiths from all over the world,  Catholic to Baptist, Born-again to Pentecostal, LDS to Methodist, and the occasional atheist (hopefully "former atheist"), have commented along the same lines. Each person expressing a yearning to remain close to, or return to, the Savior.  This aspect has been so refreshing, I wish everyone had a chance to see it. 

So  that's what I'm proposing. Without overtly blatant faith specific references I'd love to hear your story. Did this project catch you at a time when you really needed to think about Him for 6 minutes? Did you 5 year old enjoy it? Which image is your favorite? Just share.   You may remain anonymous if you choose. If they're non-offensive, I'll keep them posted for everyone to enjoy. If you video it, all the better. I'll embed it. 

Make an ordeal out of it if you'd like, people would love to hear. 

Thank you for indulging me. 

Mark

TV Commercial.

I've been thrilled with our publisher Deseret Book. They have given "Reflections of Christ" very high priority this year and have been instrumental in allowing the exhibit to tour the country at such low cost to those that host it. Recently they produced a TV spot... Enjoy. 

Here's the embed code, if you'd like to use this clip. 

<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AdrySAA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="720" height="510" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

Finally, Prints!

This Tuesday, you all should be getting an email with a special promotional code to use to get 20% off  Reflections Prints! Yes, prints. Finally. On our new website. Thank you all for your patience and encouraging emails. So watch this Tuesday, if you don't get the promo in your inbox, then check here. I'll post the code. 

Mark

Honduras.

Cameron is in Honduras shooting a few documentaries, not Reflections related, or so we thought. He took a set of prints with him. Here's Cam's words in an email to me a couple hours ago...

"...Anyway this picture is of a 90 year old man in a wheel chair that I gave one if the images too - his words " this is the most precious thing I have ever seen in my whole life.  This is exactly how he looks in my dreams." then he cried for about 10 minutes. We tried to get him to give it to us so we could hang it on his wall but he wouldn't let us.  He just kept holding it and starring.  This was yesterday.  Today we went back - and there he was - just starring at the pic.  Pretty powerful experience.  I have video of it I'll show you when u get back in the country.

Click here to see the video. 

Sacramento

Beginning Nov 19, the exhibit will be hosted in Sacramento, CA. Please click here to see dates and location. It will be great to see you there. 

BYU

The exhibit is currently showing upstairs in the BYU Provo bookstore... Monday is the last day and we'll be picking it up on Tuesday early in the afternoon. Please drop by and see it, as it will be leaving Utah for a while. 

Exhibit in SLC.

I just had a wonderful trip to SLC for the book launch. Thank you to all of those who shared their very touching stories with me. I was particular touched to hear Heleman Hunt sing me "Because I have been given much". That song has never meant so much to me as when Heleman sang it to me from his wheelchair. Thank you. 

The exhibit is back in the JSMB, in downtown Salt Lake. It will be there through Nov 7. Please go and check it out. I'm not sure when the next time it will be in the Salt Lake area will be. 

More to come. 

Mark

Idaho.

Special thanks to my Idaho FHE group for helping us get the exhibit ready at BYU-I in Rexburg and thanks for chilling at Applebee's with me all night afterwards. I'm happy with how the exhibit is turning out up there. I hope our friends in that area get to see it. 

This was a spot that the NBC affiliate in Idaho did about the show. Thank you John Merrifield for putting some thought into the interview. I happy with how it turned out. Also, Anthony at the Standard Journal seemed to really grasp what it was about. Thank you both for the kind reviews. 

It was good to see my new facebook pal Ariel on the interview. 

Mark

See the Interview that aired Friday Oct 10, 2008 by clicking here. 

Here is another interview from the Standard Journal in Idaho. 

Reflections travelog.

Special thanks to a great man, who would probably prefer to remain nameless, who nicely volunteered to let us use a truck of his to take the exhibit on the road. 

On Friday, I received instructions with 3 components. 

1. "It's manual"

2. "It's in front of my parent's house."

3. "The keys are in the gas tank cover."

So Sam and I picked up the truck, a pretty midnight blue, tacoma. I drove it around town for a while to get used to it and we then went and hooked up the trailer and took it to my house for a Sunday morning departure to Boise St. 

My dad kindly volunteered to ride with me... a little father/son time never hurts. 

With a little fanfare and a couple of snapshots we triumphantly left Mesa AZ. 

Almost to Flagstaff, 3 hours from home, I get a call from the friendly truck donor who asked a funny question... "Hey Mark, what color is the truck your driving?"

"It's blue, why do you ask?"

"Because we just reported that car stolen two nights ago... You took the wrong truck!"

5 hours later, we were back in Phoenix to exchange the "stolen" blue Tacoma for a shiny, legal, red chevy. 

Our dinner in SLC has now been changed to a breakfast. 

I know that good things happen with our traveling exhibit, because every time I try to get it somewhere, weirdness happens. 

On the way to Canada a few months ago, we got stopped at customs for six hours because they thought I kidnapped Marky, my son! 

Salt Lake City. Oct 4-5, 2008.

The Exhibit will be showing at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on The Mezzanine level beginning at 9:00 and closing at 10:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. We hope everyone will take the opportunity to come and see it. 

Just so everyone knows, there is no charge for admission... Nor will there ever be. 

Mark