Ash Wednesday

Another Jesus in Alabama

I did a search on "Jesus in Alabama" before I started this blog to make sure nobody else had used the name. I found this photo on Flikr with the title, but since it was only a single page I carried on with my original idea.

More than skin deep

This guy was a Christian tattoo artist in Bessemer, Ala. He was thinking of putting J-E-S-U-S on his other forearm, but it was a valuable piece of real estate, so he really wanted to put a picture there, not just letters. I got in the "Jesus" by sitting him in front of a Harley logo rewritten "Jesus Christ: Heavenly Divine Son."

Signs and wonders

I shot this guy when I worked for a newspaper in Jasper, Ala. I had been sent on a story that turned out to be a wild goose chase. I saw this guy walking up the highway on my way to the story and prayed I'd be able to find him on the way back. Prayers answered, there he was. He consented to an interview, explaining that God had told him to have a sign made with "Look Unto Jesus" written on it. It said something else on the other side, but the guy admitted he'd just made that one up himself. He wrote me a really nice note thanking me for not making fun of him in the story.

Not kosher

A barbecue joint in Hartselle, Ala. The copy editor in me must point out that it should say "When no one else cares." As written it's saying that Jesus is no one. And I'm not even going to mention that ellipses are composed of three dots ...

Narrow(er) is the road

This shot is the opening for the book project, intended to be the cover. I ended up using it for a Web site I wrote fiction and commentary on.

I shot the pictured in Lacon, Ala., between Cullman and Decatur.

Welcome

"Jesus in Alabama" began as a photojournalism project that I intended to make into a book. Two publishers said no, including one owned by the newspaper where I work. Still, the other encouraged me to seek others publishers but to call them back in a year if I was unsuccessful. I ended up getting a full-time job and buying a house within that year, and I dropped the project out of time constraints.

I continued shooting pictures whenever I saw them. This blog will contain those pictures and videos I've shot of the name "Jesus." I welcome submissions from readers -- and they don't have to be in Alabama. Be creative and don't limit yourself to "Jesus" as a written word. Pictures or statues are fine, and feel free to send in "God" submissions.

This project isn't intended to be sacrilegious, so please don't submit that type of thing,. It won't be used. (But they can be humorous.) The purpose is to highlight a part of society that burns with a mission to share Jesus with the world. Whether you are a believer, a skeptic or somewhere in between, this site is intended to make you feel at home.

-- Owen Tew