Photo Ethnography

I chose to do my religious ethnographic study at my home church, Tabernacle Baptist Church in Youngstown, Ohio on Sunday, May 8, 2016. Tabernacle is an 112-year-old historic Black Baptist church located on the lower Northside of Youngstown surrounded by a mixed income housing development, homeless shelter, Youngstown State University, and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. I would say the average age of a Tabernacle member is 55 years old. About 70% of the members at this church are “middle-class” families. Until about five years ago, its membership was almost exclusively middle class. There has seen an influx of membership in working class individuals and students since the arrival of Tabernacle’s young, vibrant pastor, Rev. Christopher McKee, Jr., three years ago. The church is attentive to the needs of this demographic but remains true to its historic Black Baptist church roots. The church previously struggled with this conundrum until it came to the reality that an exclusivist mindset around worship is detrimental to the body of Christ when it did not have a pastor for over three years. The church was dying because no one was welcome to it and it did not have a leader. Though it was difficult, this reassessment was beneficial in making Tabernacle more relevant and welcoming to the community it is blessed to serve.

When my friend and I first got to the church, we were surprised to see that it looked like an ordinary house. We greeted everyone on the main floor

On Monday, I went to the local Crossroads Baptist Church, located at 850 Edwards Ferry Rd NE, Leesburg, VA. This was my first time experience as I am Hindu and my parents never exposed me to any churches. Dr. Kenneth K. Baldwin was the pastor at the time I went. Luckily, I got the chance to speak with him after the service. After our brief conclusion, I realized that he had a great vision for his church and is leading it to success through his passion. I sensed his passion for preaching and religious beliefs as they were evident during the service. Despite this being my first visit to a church, I learned a lot of valuable things about churches and Christianity.

For my ethnographic fieldwork, I decided to do my research on the Jewish culture. I interviewed a friend of mine at her house, which is the field site I decided to work in. To protect her identity I changed her name to Rebecca. As soon as I got to her house I notice there was a small piece of metal on the side of her doorpost with hebrew text written on it. I enter the house and she greeted me and took me to her living room.In her living room I noticed she had a tray of bite size cookies for us and a Snapple drink. The cookies were sweet and they did not have strong odor. My friend wore black slacks a white blouse and a star necklace around her neck. After a while, her brother and father came in and I noticed they had a little cap on the top of their heads. I asked her questions about her religion and culture.

After arriving in Tennessee, my parents were very adamant about getting plugged into a church. I was raised in church but up until then, I went because I was told to. Usually I had to count ceiling lights or people in pews to keep from falling asleep during sermons. We attended countless services, but it wasn’t until one special Sunday that we found Sand Ridge Baptist Church. Unbeknownst to me, it would change my life.

The three of us arrived at the church about 30 minutes before the service started. I noticed as I waited for everything to start that this church had a phenomenally diverse range of attendees. There was your typical grandmother with her

While we were approaching, I could hear them singing. I was so excited, my heart rated so fast. We went there. No cross, just a plain building and above the door a sign in big white letters “City Church Chicago”. We went in. I was speechless and I couldn’t keep my mouth closed. There were kids, young people, old people, colored people, white people. Everybody was there and everybody was accepted the way he/she is. That was my first time in a different church. They sang a song. It was mind blowing. I was holding my tears. After the song, pastor started preaching. I loved that the pastor was explaining bible quotes on real life situations, it was like an motivational speech. He ask us to stand up and sing a song with him. I didn’t know the lyrics, but that’s not the problem. They have karaoke! So we sang, it was amazing. I really enjoyed

I think the service was a very good eye opener because I'm the type of person to try new things and like to experience other cultures and as well as religion. I think it's a big deal knowing that I went to this service with shyness but also facing my fears because at the end of the day I know I tried something new even when I hesitated to go in the church by myself. Not only did I feel like I was getting looks I thought I was actually gonna get told to leave just because he color of my skin and I don't know why I thought that but it was just a feeling I had since I had never been to a African American church before especially a baptist church. During the service I was actually feeling the energy that was going on in the room and it made me just want to shout like everybody else but I felt like it was my primary church in a strange way but I really enjoyed every minute of it regardless of what I thought at first when I walked in. After the service was done we had a prayer and he went to people who wanted to be prayed for and it was very at

The music took up a good amount of time of the service and it really kept me engaged, mainly because I really enjoy music. The lyrics were projected onto the screen. I really enjoyed the lyrics being projected, it was very convenient and nice that I was able to follow along even though I am not an active member of the church, being able to follow along with the lyrics made me feel more comfortable. I wasn’t expecting there to be a live band and lyrics projected as an easier way to follow along. I really enjoyed that experience though because it kept me engaged. I used to attend St Paul's Lutheran in Kankakee and I remembered a choir so ultimately that is what I was

Holy Spirit Parish is one of the biggest Catholic Churches in town and has grown as a community since it was opened in 2004. Growing up in this Church was so immense because it truly felt like a second home to me. I was so involved with the Church at such a young age, being apart and helping at so many different things. Different activities included being a part youth group, volunteer work, and going to elementary school in the same building as the Church. As for my parents, they participated in Guys Group, Womens Group, Bible Study Groups, and various committees. The community at Holy Spirit is so

The pastor prayed for the congregation then everyone went to someone and greeted each other. This experience was unique for me. In the church I usually attend people do not greet each other rather. The choir of the church then sang songs and the congregation sang with them. The choir sang for about 15 minutes; the people were clapping their

The first cultural event I experienced was going to the non-denominational church with my girlfriend and her family. My expectations were to be going to a church that was more of a cathedral look. I expected to see religious statues and carvings within the church. To my surprise, it was completely opposite. We drove up to the campus and it was huge like a basketball stadium. When we entered the church it was huge with a very modern look. It looked nothing like a church. Then we entered the auditorium where there were floor seats and balcony seats that which looked like you would sit in at a sports event. This was the day I met my girlfriend’s family so not only was I nervous attending a church service in a place so big and different from what I expected I was meeting her family. I met the family everyone was really kind and welcoming. The church service began and it was like a concert. They had drums, guitars, keyboards, and singers. The dynamic was not similar to what I have experienced in the services I had attended back home. It was loud, fun, and people were so comfortable being there. The pastor spoke

My first impression was the passionate kindness coming from everyone. I could tell the sense of community and respect coming from each attendee. Comparing it to the Catholic Church I go to back at home, it was a very different feeling. I could automatically tell that each person was fully present in the worship that was about to happen. I ended up sitting in the back to get a full perspective of the service. As I sat there waiting for the service to start almost every person who walked past my pew either smiled or

We spend many police and legal resources to investigate, hold trials, and punish drug offenders, and in the last 10 years, the number of drug offenders still remain very high. Also, repeat offenders count for no less than 90% of drug offenders each year from 2007 to 2011 . This data indicates the way we fight drugs is not efficient, and that those who return to society from the correctional facilities is not

National geography is a very known for their magazines and photographers, therefore it deserves at least a little shout out for their amazing nature shots and animal photography, featuring wide shots, still images, lots of videos, macros and much