Photographer treks to Siberia to reach unknown village- to give them a photo of themselves

By Elizabeth Prata

I look at this website called MyModernMet. My Modern Metropolis “is where art enthusiasts and trendspotters connect over creative ideas.” There is some beautiful art, amazing photography, travel photos of exotic places, and interesting and thought-provoking concepts at the site.

I watched an 8-minute video at My Modern Met of a photographer named Sasha who spent an inordinate amount of money and incredible amount of time to reach an unreached people group in northern Siberia…so he could take their photograph and give them the picture. If you think about it for a second you realize he is giving a paper product to a nomadic people living in a wet and cold climate who don’t typically store things. Okey dokey then.

Here is the MyModernMet blog entry about it:

Beautifully Rare Portraits of People Living In Remote Siberia
“Camera phones and social media make it quite easy to see photographs of yourself on a daily basis. However, there are some areas that don’t have the same advanced technology and Chukotka, a remote region in Siberia, is one of these places. … Leahovcenco photographed local individuals in their everyday lives and, immediately after taking a photograph, he would make a print and hand it directly to his subjects. For many, this was the very first time they had ever had their photograph taken.”

Here is Sasha’s explanation about his trip:
Two years ago I had the amazing opportunity to go literally to the end of the earth to photograph people who never had their photo taken. At schools, churches, homes and hospitals I could give people a moment to forget their troubles and just smile for the camera. But while shooting with nomadic reindeer herding families it was me who was most deeply touched by the experience. For although my hosts had few material possessions they shared with me something rare in the world – a sense of peace and satisfaction with life. We hope to engage humanity’s deep rooted fascination with nature and desire to understand humanity. Perhaps by getting a glimpse of this nomadic way of life we will reflect on this modern world and what in our lives is truly important.

We have within us this innate desire to connect. To explore, to find out why. We long for answers as to life’s questions, and we love to explore this world and see the unique aspects of this planet which supports our very life. Since after the Fall, we have congregated and collected and tried to find out why and where and who. (Genesis 11:4)

God put in us this desire to know and seek. (Ecclesiastes 3:11). It’s a given that His children yearn for Him.

“My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.” (Psalm 84:2)

But does the lost soul also know that which he does not know? Yes, they do. Romans 1:19-20 states it, God’s general revelation of Himself is made plain to them through His creation.

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

Gill’s Exposition explains General revelation as opposed to Specific revelation. Specific revelation is hidden from the pagan.

“There are some things which could not be known of God by the light of nature; as a trinity of persons in the Godhead; the knowledge of God in Christ as Mediator; the God-man and Mediator Jesus Christ; his incarnation, sufferings, death, and resurrection; the will of God to save sinners by a crucified Jesus; the several peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, particularly the resurrection of the dead, and the manner of worshipping of God with acceptance: but then there are some things which may be known of God, without a revelation.“

General revelation as shown in Romans 1:19-20 is given plainly to every living person on earth just by virtue of being alive on earth and experiencing its majesty. And so they are without excuse. Here is Gill again:

“…even the very Heathens have some notion of him, as that there is a God; and by the light of nature it might be known that there is but one God, who is glorious, full of majesty, and possessed of all perfections, as that he is all powerful, wise, good and righteous: and this is manifest in them, or “to them”; by the light that is given them: it is light by which that which may be known of God is manifest; and this is the light of nature…“

It is this drive which propels explorers to deduce the machinery of the eternal, to peek behind the administration and organization of the world’s tribes to examine what connects us in our common humanity. It is God which connects us, but the specifics of that revelation are hidden from most. Yet they seek, scout, search and scrutinize. Even to the uttermost parts of the earth.

If you have specific revelation of Jesus today, gained from insight from the Bible, then that is your Thanksgiving. It is the knowledge of all things, He who is the only important person in the universe, He who is creator and King. He made you and holds your soul in His hand.

If you wonder about the deep things of the world, they whys and wherefores, if you have a seeking yearning heart, then you are alive with general revelation. You can pray to God for more, for the urge to repent of your sins which are the blinders on you preventing you from seeing Jesus in His glorious specific revelation. Humanity is all the same, all one kind in the sense that we are all made in the image of God, (Genesis 1:27) and that we were all made by the same hand-

“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” (Colossians 1:16)

And one more thought, the most important thought and the whole point: the photographer went to a lot of expense and effort to reach people so he could take their picture. He gave them a hard copy of a perishable item. How much effort do we go through to offer people the ONE imperishable thing in the universe, the Gospel of Jesus Christ?