Some of the best twenty minutes of my week are spent on camera during praise and worship at the Burswood campus.
I had the opportunity to operate camera one on Friday night of the Big Weekend, and I have to say that despite being pretty tired before the service, afterwards I was fired up!
Driving home I got to thinking about why I enjoy it so much. Why for that short period of time all of my worries and stresses just melt away into the camera viewfinder. Hurtling down the Kwinana Freeway, I figured it out:
For that time, I know
exactly who I am and what I'm meant to do.
A lot of life is spent hurrying from one place to another, fulfilling obligations and trying to make a living and caring for family and friends and etc etc etc. Life is filled with uncertainty and expectation; an 'undiscovered country' of potential events and encounters.
That uncertainty can be disconcerting for many people, myself included.
But when I get on camera, it's all laid out for me. Each camera position has its own particular requirements and shots that are needed. A song has certain moments when I know that my drum shot will be required, or that the chorus is about to start so my camera four wide shot is up next. I have a director telling me what she or he wants in order to weave together the tapestry of the shoot - and I know my place within that.
Everything is certain.
Why is camera work like this, and why not life? I asked myself. And I realised that the idea of camera work can be applied to life, if at least in a metaphorical sense. So bear with me as I try to nut this out...
Firstly, I didn't start out in that position of assuredness. Four or five years ago, I was a wet behind the ears trainee freaking out behind the lens of camera two, stuffing up pan-acrosses and zooming in too fast. It took a lot of time, practice and patient training to get me to where I am today. There is a reason why we don't just give a person new to the crew a handheld camera and say 'go for it'. We must learn. We have the gift of Francis and Joelle training us, and patient team leaders and directors helping us through our rough patches and learning periods, experienced operators who are more than happy to pass on tips to the newbie. So it can be with life.
When I knew that I was going to be a father, I realised that I didn't know what the heck to do! So I embarked on a training cycle. A 'Sunday afternoon' of parenting skills, if you like. I bought books, I spoke to parents who had been through what I was about to go through, I did everything I could to learn. Read the bible - the training manual for life. Listen to Phil, Aly, Hadyn, etc etc etc. Understand what you need to learn and practice it.
Secondly is the heart. Whenever I go on camera, just as the five-minute call is winding up, I say a very short prayer just asking God into my world for the next few minutes. I ask Him to take control of my body, of the camera, to give me skill and creativity beyond what I am capable of on my own. Whenever I do that I always do a good shoot. I put aside my own ego (difficult though that may be at times!) and try to provide camera shots that fit the shoot as a whole.
The same is true in life. You have to be willing to serve, to be led. I think you have to ask God for the things you lack, and to lead you in the way of truth. There is no certainty in the world, in events and people - but there is certainty in Him.
Third, you have to listen to the song. A song has an introduction, a verse, a chorus, a bridge (that maybe tells you when the chorus is coming). A song can have one or more lead singers, a choir, a guitar solo, even a string quartet. If you listen to the song, it will guide you to your shots - it's easy to do a good shoot; just film what you hear. We also have a director talking in our ears, guiding us, playing the five cameras like Zac plays his guitar, creating a cohesive shoot. Listen to the director and offer what he or she needs.
I think- in life - God is the song, and Jesus is the director.
...
Okay, so maybe this is not the best analogy in the world, but it speaks to me, and I thought it might to this community as well.
Have fun out there my peeps!
