If you have never seen Planet Earth by the BBC, then you should take a look! The stories that the BBC captures are absolutely captivating. From underwater creatures to penguins in Antarctica, it seems that these film crews went everywhere. And what is often more interesting to me is the stories behind the stories. They call it “Planet Earth Diaries,” which is the story of how they got the camera in the right place at the right time.
In preparing for the ordination of now Deacon Julio Barrera, I knew that this ordination would be a great opportunity to gather some great photographers, capitalize on the fact that we had access to many parts of the church, and put together some super-high quality media supporting vocations and the church.
So, in the spirit of Planet Earth we placed cameras in three unique locations. One was overhead, one in the high altar behind the altar of sacrifice, and one was tucked in the ambo. All three resulted in some very fine and unique perspectives as our deacon was ordained.
This is a photo of me hanging the cameras up in the church. Everything was done very carefully with safety equipment for both myself and the cameras. And there were many spotters around to make sure everything went smoothly.
And this is a cropped image of what we shot from that top camera:
Before the ordination, as Joe Imel, James Kenney, and John Sohl were preparing their gear, someone looked at the pew where they had situated their equipment and saw a handful of camera bodies, some smaller lenses, and a couple of 400mm lenses (the big ones that you see at ball games). And this persons commented to me saying that you only see that kind of equipment at a big ball game. Upon hearing that I thought to myself, “We get out the big camera for big sports games. If we really believe that what we are doing here at this ordination is eternally significant, why wouldn’t we get out the big cameras.”
And so we did.
The production work for Julio’s ordination is mostly complete. This week, we will begin the hard work of preparing the rough cut of the material. This evening I finished interviewing Deacon Julio again and witnessed and captured his gut-wrenching story that you are going to want to share with all your friends.
Special thanks to Joe Imel of the Bowling Green Daily News, James Kenney of WKU, and John Sohl who helped capture the event.
Until new time,
Fr. Josh McCarty
