Australian's Photos of U.S. Delight the Eyes, Inspire the Heart
by Randall Murphree
July 13, 2006
(AgapePress) - - For centuries, America's beauty has been captured by photographers both professional and amateur, yielding images both grand and mundane. Now, world-renowned photographer Ken Duncan has sent the excellence meter shooting right off the scale. It is hard to imagine a collection more breathtaking than Duncan's America Wide: In God We Trust, a collection of his stunning panographs of all 50 states.
"Panograph" is a term Duncan trademarked to denote his sweeping panoramic images, which mirror the majesty of nature and the minutiae of daily life. More than 100 panographs fill America Wide. If these incredible visuals are the main course, Duncan's intriguing stories and spiritual insights are dessert.
He recounts setting up on one occasion among a host of others to photograph mountain wildflowers in Yankee Boy Basin, Colorado. One photographer constantly got in the way, selfishly pursuing his goal with no consideration for others. Duncan finally left the site angry but felt led to return late that afternoon.
"The weather had turned really cloudy and chased away all the other photographers," he writes. "After I had set up, it began to rain. There I sat [for two hours] under a huge multi-colored umbrella looking very obviously like an idiot." Eventually, however, soon after he prayed, the clouds parted, the sun broke through and a rainbow appeared.
"It was far more spectacular than I had dared to imagine," Duncan said, "and I was there alone to capture the glorious spectacle on film."
Furthermore, Duncan's stories emphasize spiritual principles -- e.g. obedience to God's direction, patience and persistence, the value of prayer.
He says the people of Australia have a concept they call "walk-awhile." If you want to know a place or a person, walk-awhile in that place or with that person. That's what he did in America Wide; he walked awhile in America's footsteps, traveling 80,000 miles over a three-year period to ferret out and photograph some of our nation's most awe-inspiring sites.
In his introduction, he writes of the U.S., "No nation has been granted a more beautiful place to call home. I believe God has blessed this country so that it may be a beacon to others by upholding the belief that liberty, faith, hope and unity can conquer any adversity."
Read an Interview with Author Ken Duncan
Randall Murphree, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is editor of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association. This article, printed with permission, appears in the July 2006 issue.
