One of my favorite things that I occasionally get to do as a servant photographer is baptism photography.
At our church, when a person is presented for baptism, a photographer stands below the baptistry to capture the moment. There are a handful of photographers who take turns on baptism Sundays, and I’ve been able to serve in this way a couple of times.
The first time I was asked, I eagerly said yes, but as Sunday drew near I suddenly felt terrified and I couldn’t figure out exactly why. And then it hit me!
A baptism is like a wedding.
Scott Kelby, in one his wonderfully helpful photography books, said that if you get a zoom lens of any sort, it is inevitable that someone will ask you to shoot their wedding. It happened to me last year, and when the dear bride asked, I think I might have laughed. Pretty sure. I blamed it on my lack of “proper” equipment, but the reality is I had absolutely no confidence in my ability to shoot one of the biggest days of her life. I agreed to do her engagement pictures… much more within my comfort zone!
So when I stepped out from behind the stage curtain on baptism Sunday, changing places as quickly as possible with the worship band, terror and fear struck! I had about a nanosecond to gauge the crazy artificial stage lighting, take a test shot, and make the necessary adjustments before taking one of the most important shots of these people’s lives. A shot I only had one chance at capturing!
Later that night, while editing these poorly composed shots, I realized that in my eyes a person’s baptism is on par with – actually, superior to – their wedding day. Wedding days are wonderful, but the day that symbolizes a dead person being raised to life by the power of Christ on the cross trumps a day spent in a white dress.
But isn’t a baptism a wedding of sorts? As I’ve studied the bible over the years, I’ve come to believe that we are not saved because we have been baptized, but we participate in baptism because we have been saved. Our baptism is our public declaration of an inward uniting of our lives to God through Jesus Christ… a picture of our marriage to the Lamb of God. Oh, what an important day that is in the life of a child of God!
No one photographed my baptism. Not that I am aware of, at least. But somehow with childlike faith and the penmanship to prove it, I wrote the date down in the back of my childhood bible.
I can’t tell you how many times over the course of my life I have gone back to that page and just looked at it. Remembering. When my childlike faith melts into adult complacency, I look at it. When doubts arise and my faith feels tossed about, I look and I remember. When the shadows threaten to block out all light, I open it up. And every time, I melt at the knowledge that a Glorious Savior King lifted me – the unfit, unwanted, undeserving bride – out of death and brought me to life.
That page in the back of a worn out, stained, and torn, children’s bible is such a vivid reminder of His grace. It marks the celebration of something most important to me — my re-birthday, my real birthday!
It is such an honor and a privilege to serve these people on Baptism Sundays, and it is my constant prayer that God will equip me with all of the photographic know-how needed to give them the best possible shot of that most important day.
