The Cross

“Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.”
Psalm 36:5
The Cross

This is one of the very first “inspirational” pictures that I ever photographed and became the starting point for what would eventually become “Visual Forces”. When I saw this scene, it opened my eyes to what I should be doing with a camera. It features a lone tree in the shape of a cross with the sun setting behind a distant mountain. The sky happened to pop with incredible color that evening as I started firing my shutter. Sadly, this tree is no longer on the hill and so this photo can never be reproduced. Sometimes God gives us only one chance to do something and if we pass it up we will never again have that same opportunity. Whether you’re photographing a tree on a hill, accepting a job, singing karaoke for the first time, or saying “yes”…go into it knowing that opportunity may never come again.

The Cross HeartThe Heart of The Cross
I didn’t notice this immediately when I first printed this image, but after a few months (maybe even a year) someone pointed this out to me. On the top-right branch that is stretched out the farthest, there is a perfectly formed heart on one of the limbs! You can draw your own symbolism, but I thought this was rather amazing.

4 Replies to “The Cross”

  1. From one Christian photographer to another… BEAUTIFUL photos!! I enjoy looking at your work, please let me know when you get a gift shop open. I’m in the process of adding inspirational photography to my website with scriptures on them as well. I’d like to publish a book one day about the photos God has given me.

    I really love this cross tree photo.. its a blessing

    Blessings,
    Jackie Price

  2. Hi

    I am a childhood sexual abuse survivor. I made a video using one of your photos from your web site. I am hoping to share my video with my community. I am writing to ask permission to use your photo.

    You can view the video at

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnTqWx_9M8M

    Your photo helped me to share my feelings about abuse with my family. Now I am hoping that I can share my video with my community in a local film festival. If you would like me to remove your photo, please just let me know and if I can use your photo, thank you.

  3. Hi matt,

    Use of the photos for that video is fine…thank you, though, for reaching out to me regarding it.

    Quite a powerful video! Thank you for stepping up and sharing it with all!

    God Bless!
    Shane

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