October 2004

ARTICLE TOOLS

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In 1980, Greg Schneider, one of five Christian photojournalists we feature in this issue ("Through a Lens Clearly," p. 48), decided to quit his job at a daily newspaper in San Bernardino, California, in order to work with Campus Crusade's Worldwide Challenge.

But he hated to leave his newsroom and offered one urgent prayer: to be replaced by someone who shared his faith in Jesus and was also a "good shooter," journalistic parlance for a skilled photojournalist. The day Schneider turned in his notice, his boss phoned a professor friend in Ohio, saying, "I just found out I've got an opening. Do you know about anybody?" The friend replied, "I've got a photographer here, Ron Londen, whom you ought to talk to." It took about 60 minutes, but an answer to Schneider's prayer was set in motion. Londen, some weeks later, got the job.

In time, Schneider, Londen, and Gary Fong of the San Francisco Chronicle helped launch Christians in Photojournalism (CIP), a professional association that includes some of the nation's top news and feature photographers. Londen told me, "God just moved me into place [in San Bernardino] because there were a lot of things happening that it would be good to be involved with. It was a great privilege."

Today, CIP has about 1,000 members. They have a newsletter, meet annually at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and have a website that showcases powerhouse images from their portfolios as well as commentary about their work.

Americans have a love-hate relationship with photojournalism. In the popular mind, photojournalists are hard-living lone rangers who will breach any boundary or violate any person's privacy in pursuit of an arresting image. At the same time, photojournalists deeply shape our perceptions ...