I took this photograph last November 2008. It’s in Caleruega Church in Batangas near Tagaytay. It reminds me of the scene in the movie “Platoon”, where the character of Willem Dafoe’s is raising his arms towards the heaven while being chased in the field by scores of Vietcongs and eventually dying in a hail of bullets. It was a classic scene and the turning point of the movie, because after witnessing the carnage on the field from a helicopter the character of Charlie Sheen realized that even in their own ranks the battle of good and evil persists.
The church on the background gives a somber feeling and was enhanced dramatically by the black and white effect. It sort of projects a wartime mood. History book images of the ruins of Manila during the aftermath of WWII and Kurt Vonnegut's "Slautherhouse-Five" returns to my mind. Churches were always, was the last buildings to go. After all the bombings from air raids, Allied forces upon liberation of France were greeted by churches with the crosses still intact.
The weather was fine that day, but the clouds again expresses a mood about everything unsteady. This image mirrored everything that has been going through my life at that time.
The photograph shows a semi blurred foreground, I can’t remember if i set my camera to a wide aperture so it’ll get that effect. The hand conveys a message that everything in this world isn't spoon fed, it's outstretched gesture signifies our reliance on a higher being above, making our faith us our won weapon against all sorts of rampaging trials.
I love taking photographs, mostly I take a lot of thrash while a few ends up as "blog worthy", but this image never cease in giving me something to reflect upon. I am not a religious person, but it somehow reminded me of the importance of keeping whatever was left in what I believe, “the hand” that will dealt us our fate and the path to our destiny is no other than our doing. We can only pray for guidance but the end recourse still lies with our own decisions.
