I enjoy pairing images, so I thought a compare and contrast would be the perfect way to begin this new blog. The  images above were made eleven years apart, yet are tied together by underlying themes of Jesus, religion, and faith. (Use your finger or mouse anywhere on the white line to slide between photos.)

 

Photo one, Pittsburgh, 1975/76. (Color slide)
It was a dreary winter morning just after it rained. I walked past that sign a number of times, but the haze of that day, and maybe my mood, made the rainbow especially vibrant. I spent a few moments composing the shot, made the exposure, and moved on. When the film came back from processing, I examined the slide, then filed it away.

 

Like most photographers, I sort and reevaluate my images repeatedly and often find details and symbols I failed to recognize over earlier edits.  Expanding the symbolism of the rainbow and its message, I imagined the iron fence missing a spike was a broken gate to salvation guarding an empty lot. The cinder block cracks at the top of the frame became a stairway to heaven, and the red splotch on marble side of the building, one of the blood marks of Passover.

 

Rectangles abound in this photo, especially prominent where pink light spills down the sidewalk. A red pickup truck in the distance waits at an intersection where a green traffic light signals to no one. The building sign advertising used cars looks as old and worn as the fence. 

 

Photo two, "Hecklers protest the National LGBQ March On D.C. (Color slide - October, 1987)
Hecklers and counter protesters lined one side of a stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue shouting Bible verses and vitriol at marchers who streamed towards the Capitol demanding equality for gays and lesbians. Many hecklers wore embellishments declaring AIDS to be divine retribution from God.

 

It was a no-brainer for me to pair these two photos.