Putting our Words into Action

This is an excerpt from my blog and deals with the undertaking of informing voters about prop 8.

"Day 6 - Photo 6. This is Loring Fiske-Phillips and he is a volunteer for a phone bank making calls to voters encouraging them to vote no on California's Proposition 8. If voters pass Prop 8 on November 4th it will eliminate the right for same-sex couples to marry.

Dozens of volunteers spent hours making thousands of phone calls. Volunteers are from every walk of life and every type of relationship. In fact many of the volunteers are in heterosexual relationships and they do it because as one volunteer says, "I want my children to grow up in a world where they choose who they love. I believe in the separation of church and state. This should not be a religious issue. This should not be a political issue."

I am moved by the power of people who believe in change, of people who are willing to spend their time, physical and emotional, and of people who will stand in the face of adversity regardless of the cost. This is about simple fairness and equality. And by the way, after looking at Day 5 - Photo 5, a friend of mine told me, "stay with your family, friends and things you believe in. You told us in your very first photo that you start each day and end each day with your family. Right?" Right my friend. Right."

Looking back on this posting...prop 8 is indeed about our friends and family.

I Do

The following is an excerpt from my own blog 31Days31Photos.blogspot.com and was taken from just one of the nearly 12,000 weddings since prop 22 was overturned.

Day 25 - Photo 25. The wedding day had finally come. They stood before the alter and committed their lives to each other. Members of the audience smiled and nodded knowingly. At times the couple giggled breathlessly like school kids. They blushed. They faltered. They exchanged vows and slipped rings on each others fingers. And then, they turned to face a church filled with family and friends as a married couple.

They stood in a reception line and accepted the handshakes, hugs, smiles and congratulations. They mingled amongst well wishers. A friend lifted a glass and toasted the couple and finally with hands intertwined, they cut the cake. As weddings go, events and people stayed to the script. Unless of course you take into account that the happy couple were two women who've waited on this day for 15 years.

The camera is a bully pulpit. As photojournalists, we will often say we prefer to remain in the background, the shadows, attempting only to portray people and events, never wishing to influence the outcome with our presence. That much is true. Though the photojournalist has great power for change by what and who we show with our cameras. Many a social injustice has been brought to light through the lens.

On November 4th voters in California will defeat or approve proposition 8. If passed it would amend the state constitution to define the word marriage as "between and man and a woman." Many look upon this as a religious issue, a legal issue, a moral issue. Simply put, it's a social justice issue. It was within my lifetime that a mixed race marriage was illegal. Illegal.

I never wanted this blog to be process driven. I started it as a photographic journey. Part of the journey was to find the passion that had driven me to be a photojournalist. I found something unexpected though, part of my heart and soul that had been missing. I don't want to lose them again.

On November 4th I will follow my heart and soul when I step into the voting booth.