A Cross in the Sky

Chicago Skyline, 1989

Olympus OM2n, Zuiko 24mm f2.8, Fujichrome 100 film

(Click to enlarge)

 This is a re-post of a blog I wrote last year.

 A famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow begins:       

    "I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I know not where."

Longfellow was actually writing a metaphor about a song. But a photograph is like that. Like shooting an arrow into the air. We make our photographs, and if they're published who knows where they may be seen or whom they may influence, or in what way.

Throughout most of the 1980s one of my principal clients was an organization called the Christian Businessmen's Committee -- CBMC for short. Their mission was training and encouraging Christian businessmen to evangelize and train other businessmen to reach still more people for Christ.

In the late '80s they developed a strategy to concentrate their efforts on larger cities, and in 1989 and '90 I created seven audio-visual programs for them to advance this outreach. They sent me to cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and San Francisco to interview people and make photographs, not only of the people, but also background photos -- street scenes, buildings, landmarks, etc., in the various cities to make each AV program a complete story.

Walking the streets of downtown Chicago, I chanced to look up, liked the composition of the buildings and sky, and snapped a few photos with my faithful Olympus OM2n camera without a great deal of thought. I don't remember what lens was used, but probably the Zuiko 24mm f2.8. I never carried anything wider in those days.

The photo was used in one or more of the audio-visual programs, and later, on the cover of the CBMC annual report.

The CBMC headquarters are in Chattanooga, and from time to time they would bring in small groups of men from around the country for ministry training. One Sunday morning I was talking to some CBMC staff members at my church. They were there with a group of men who had come to town for training. I was introduced as the one who had created the audio-visuals, and one man shook my hand and said "I'm here because of your picture of the cross in the Chicago skyline. I saw that and said to myself 'Christ in the cities!' I want to be part of that!"

He left his job and went into full-time ministry with CBMC.

I've shot a lot of photos into the air in my career. It's nice to find out, once in a while, where one has landed.

If you enjoy my photographs, you can see more of them in my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and, who knows? You might find something you want to keep.

The second edition of my book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, originally scheduled for December, will be released in June, 2023. 

Photograph and text copyright 2022 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.