Looking for images for a film

[dreilly]

Hi All,

This might be the oddest post of the day.

In addition to an RFF-member, I'm a study abroad administrator, sending students to far-flung corners of the world in the hopes they'll come back enlightened. One of these places is Vietnam, (college students who want to go to Vietnam, how times have changed!), and in connection with this, I'm putting together a series of short video orientations about Vietnam, narrated by Professors, students and other experts.

I have a special need for photos for the segment on religion. I have plenty of images of temples and other religious aspects of Vietnam itself, but the film begins with a discussion of religion in general, and we'd like to use images of temples, churchs, mosques, priests and nuns, ministers, rabbis, mullahs, etc in the US (of primarily western religions--if they were pics of a Buddhist temple in Ithaca, NY, it would be visually confusing) to illustrate this segment.

The professor also uses a metaphor to describe religion in Vietnam--he calls it a Multi-plex of religions. For that we're looking for pictures of a cinemaplex with lots of lights and movie names and people going in and out, buying tix, etc, crowds, etc.

Of course I thought of RFF!

We have a shoe-string budget. I can't really pay, but I can put your name at the end of the film and am willing to make a small donation to RFF for each image I use. The films will be housed on a publically-available website.

Thanks for any assistance any of you are willing to give!

cheers
doug

 

[mtokue]

Sorry can't help with Vietnam, BUT if you end up needing images of Japan.
Look me up.
Mike.

 

[Stephan]

Sorry mate, got pictures of some churches in europe, if its for american students and their geography knowledge is not quite up to the high standards of the nation maybe I can help with sme of those 😀

Otherwise, I'm a student, you could just send to vietnam with a blad or two and i can take a few shots 😀

 

[zuikologist]

Doug

When do you need the images? This could be RFF's June project perhaps?

 

[oftheherd]

I am not sure I understand. Do I understand you are looking for photos of different religions in the US? If so, of course, photos of religious edifices in Vietnam are not what you are looking for.

I may or may not be able to help, by getting out for a photo op of my area. There are diverse religions here. My only problem will be getting the time. If that is what you want, I can try. No promises though. If possible, I may try for a Mosque, a Catholic church, a Prostetant church, and a Sikh religious building (whatever they are correctly called). I believe I might even be able to get a photo of a Buddhist temple here, and might have some from Korea.

As to Vietnamese religious culture being like a multiplex theater, I guess it would be how you explain your characterization of it. Some people will follow more than one religion, just whatever is convenient. Not all religions exclude the practice of other religions as does Christianity or Muslimism. One religion there, Cao Dai if I recall, is an avowed amalgamation of several, including Christianity and Buddhism, and I think Animism as well as a couple of others. We have a lot of religions here and if simply having a lot of religions available to choose from, we could also be called a multiplex. Oh well, I guess that is OT from what you are asking for.

However, using a photo of a multiplex without their permission might get you into trouble. I would run that by your institutions legal counsel. Churches or other religious institutions probably wouldn't mind, although even they might have legal grounds to object. Multiplexes are usually chains and probably have legal counsel on staff, who might wish to prove they are needed. Of course, you may have an out as a teaching institution, but I woudl sure run it by the legal counsel.

Please let us know more specifically.

 

[dreilly]

Thanks everyone for taking my post seriously!

To clarify; I'm looking for photos of western religions in the US, namely Christian (all denominations), Jewish and Muslim. The idea is to talk in general about religion here (the religions that most students will be familiar with) before getting into the milieu of Vietnam (helping the students connect with something they already know before exposing them to new info, tried and true teaching technique).

And the multi-plex idea is to illustrate the writer (an Asian religions specialist) metaphor for talking about religion in Vietnam. Hmmm, there's no commercial interest here, this is all not-for-profit educational use. You still think there could be issues with showing a marquee, etc?

I need the images preferably by the end of June. If that could be a project, that would be great. People could contribute on the general topic and specifiy whether they wanted their pics to be used or not. Might make a nice shooting topic!

I mean the nonviolent kind of shooting. This stuff begets the real kind too often!

cheers
doug

 

[oftheherd]

OK, thanks for the clarification. I will try to do what I can. I am sure others can do better.

As to the marquee of a multiplex, I don't know the specifics of your institution, the course nor the grant, and I am not a lawyer. I would just suggest you cover all bases. Do you not have a counsel on staff?

 

[dreilly]

oftheherd-
thanks so much for offering to help! I really appreciate it.

We do have a counsel on staff, but I'm afraid to ask. They say no to everything. Such a litigious country. But I'll send off an email since I'm involving others in this adventure!

doug

 

[Little Prince]

Oftheherd, since you asked, a Sikh religious building is called a Gurdwara.