Church Revival

[atlcruiser]

Hi All,
I was invited to attend and document a pentecostal Church revival in rural Georgia a few weeks ago. I attached a few of the photos. I would like to get an idea of what people think of them.
This is the first time I have ever gone into a strange environment and just taken pictures....sure i have done so on the street and in semi-public areas but this was a private function and i was extremely concerned to not be in the way and to show what I saw; to document a very different and interesting event but to not see it as a circus but rather as something extraordinary in the participants lives.

All of this was leica M6 CV 35/1.4 and X Pan 45/4. Arista 400 @ 800 for the M6 and the X pan was arista 400@1600 bioth developed in rodinal 1:50.

All of these are proof scans at 800. Maybe a touch nhere and there in lightroom for exposure but most are direct from film to scanner

Thanks in advance

 

[atlcruiser]

 

[atlcruiser]

 

[atlcruiser]

 

[atlcruiser]

 

[atlcruiser]

 

[paulfish4570]

Beautiful reportage, David.
I would make one suggestion: only one of the cross-on-the-floor shots is sufficient; I'd recommend the last one where the bare feet meet the shined shoes.

 

[atlcruiser]

Good point! I do seem to have a bunch of crosses 🙂

 

[atlcruiser]

 

[tj01]

i think you did a great job in your photographs to capture the ambiance and energy in the room.

 

[atlcruiser]

one of the very few from the mamiya 7

 

[hteasley]

Amazing series. Powerfully captures the scene, without editorial. Really well done.

 

[pachuco]

This is the one that did it for me. Good stuff!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

So where are the pics where they have the snakes?

 

[David Murphy]

Yes this is very good social documentary - nice job

 

[paulfish4570]

Chris, very, very few pentacostal/charismatic groups do the snake thing ...

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I know, lol. My grandparents were from eastern Kentucky where the snake thing originated and from what they said, A LOT of people where they grew up did it. Because of that, they wanted nothing to do with Christianity until they were in their 60s and living in Indiana, when a friend of theirs got them to go to a Lutheran church! We actually have a snake church here in Ft. Wayne too. It would be cool to photograph, but all those rattlesnakes...no thanks.

 

[MartinP]

This could probably be answered by a quick Google, but you all seem to know what is going on in the photos. What is a "Church revival" ?

 

[fotomeow]

really nice collection, thx for sharing

 

[Ducky]

These events are generally noisy, active, emotional and sometimes confusing. I did not catch that in your work. Maybe a few close face shots, tearful expressions, closed eyes and singing. Your shots make the event look staged. Maybe they calmed down because you were there, maybe they were a more self-controlled group.
My experience with these events left me wondering how people couold get so emotional and then just pick up and go home.
I think I would have used a 50 or even a 75-80 fast lens.
Obviously, I wasn't there so I could be way off target.
Thanks for posting, these are very interesting events to observe and you did a nice job on that end.

Second guessing myself, maybe you were trying not to get too close-up and personal out of respect for what was going on.