All three of these elements manifest themselves in waves. As an artist and adventurer, I find myself working with waves, whether recreating the rhythmic interplay of a Scriabin piano étude, balancing harmonics while registering a pipe organ, kayaking the Gulf of Mexico, or capturing the glimmer of distant galaxies with my Nikon Z7 camera. Each discipline seems to balance one another. Whenever I get tired of photography, I switch to music and vice versa. This way, I never get bored.
Waves are everywhere. According to the theory of quantum mechanics, all matter exhibits wave-like properties. What captivates me, though, is the infinite variety possible within God’s universe. Waves are predictable yet unpredictable. Every sunrise is different. Composers will never run out of melodies to write and students will always have something new to learn.
I grew up in Gulf Shores, a tourist town with relatively little interest in the arts. My parents decided to homeschool me. It was a bold move at a time when such notions were not popular. I am thankful, though, because homeschooling gave me the freedom to develop my relationship with Jesus Christ and explore the world around me. Had I been interned in the regimented, artificial environment that was the public school system, I would not be who I am today.
At a young age, I discovered and developed an attraction to “classical” music – to use the vernacular term for a far more encompassing art form than that adjective suggests. Although I continue to have a wide set of interests: theology, history, science, engineering, travel, wildlife conservation and photography, music has imbedded itself deeply within me. So far, it has been an amazing voyage. Through music, God has taken me to parts of the globe I never dreamed I would visit. Through music, God has opened doors to teaching jobs both privately and in classrooms. He has called me to serve in the church, where I have the privilege to function in a role not unlike the Levite temple musicians of old.
The greatest beauty of music is that it allows us to communicate and express our love for God and to each other in a most profound way. Jesus summed up the two greatest commandments:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Music is one of the best ways to touch the heart, soul and mind. For me, it is not just a privilege to teach and make music, but a sacred responsibility.
I am not ashamed to confess publicly that next to theology there is no art which is the equal of music, for she alone, after theology, can do what otherwise only theology can accomplish, namely, quiet and cheer up the soul of man.”
We See only but a tiny portion of the electro-magnetic spectrum. However, there are an infinite number of frequencies and intensities within our narrow sensing range. Why certain color combinations please us and others do not is a mystery we may never unravel.
When I photograph nature, when I try to capture endless shades of light, I find myself being drawn closer to God. After all, light is the very first thing He created. It gives our planet life. No wonder Jesus Himself is described as light.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
What intrigues me is that God gave us the ability to create light-sensing instruments like cameras that can see better than we do in some aspects. Yes, our eyes still have better dynamic range than modern day electronic sensors, but my camera can see the multicolored hues of nebulae much better than I can. That I am driven to see and comprehend more than I am physically capable of is one of the joys of being human.
