On this beautiful Sunday and as I “traveled through social media”, I virtually stopped by a few worship sessions of friends that I have not seen in a few years. Visiting several sessions at one time was certainly fun and empowering. Since we are in a global pandemic, many organizations are still taking precautions with and being safe by providing online engagement.
This is a generation of “watchers” and times have really changed. Even before the pandemic many churches sometimes struggled to get people to “come to church” physically. However, having church online the same way it was done physically can sometimes be visually boring. With attention span being so short these days, technology has helped to improve our connection to people, but it also does not always enhance our ability to have patience to attend or inquire to listen in. While traveling through social media today, a live newsfeed post from one of my favorite recording artists “caught my eye” and lured me to click to listen to musical session.
The first thing I noticed is that the praise and worship session was taking place in a beautiful, fabulous, large, open-spaced decorated space. Tall ceilings, a double glass door, beautifully decorated shelves with books and hints of culture, vocalists who are professionally and fabulously adorned, and musicians who are statuesque and thoughtful in the delivery of their melodious expressions inclined me to listen to this musical space in time. Being a “Pastor’s Princess” or shall I say a “Preacher’s Kid”, the lifestyle of church is nothing new to me. But I must say that I was thoroughly impressed with the vocal and musical presentation and production of this space.
Kudus to the photographers and videographers who did a magnificent job of capturing significant moments during this session. I love the fact that these talented people not only captured moments of the individual or persons with a microphone, but also those without a microphone.
In addition to vocalists/speakers, musicians are the ones who set the mood for these sessions. These talented videographers caught the essence of these musicians like none I have ever seen. Great job! Please include the musicians in video and photography. They set the atmosphere. Because this presentation was so visually appealing, I was inclined to “listen.”. Many people are visual learners. Visual engagement inclines us to listen. We hear with our eyes.
Patrice Tankard
Video shots of participants during sessions embrace the equalizer effect in videography.
This guitarist is playing no games and I wish you could have heard him in this video presentation. Exquisite!
This is a spectacular video shot of the guitarist.
This is spectacular! Videographers/photographers, always and I mean always should capture the minstrel or musicians. They are the ones who actually set the mood and the atmosphere of worship experiences. Too many times, their likenesses are not inclusive in videos and photographs and they should be. Without gifted, talented and anointed musicians, sessions and experiences most likely would be dry and in need of musical saturation. There is definitely an inclination to listen to what is going on in this video clip. Great job, videographers!
(Credit: New Birth MBC did an outstanding job in their live video presentation.)
Sophisticated visual presentation encourages connection and engagement. These are the times that we live in. Some of us hear with our eyes. Stay updated and present your very best to the world and maybe the world will come to you!
Patrice Tankard