 |
By freelance photojournalist Greg Schneider’s own admission, he was self-centered. “It’s safe to say that before I came to Christ, my chief motivation for a picture was whether it was going to advance my career,” he says. “That’s the kind of photographer I was.” Friends and strangers alike knew him as being arrogant, but he had a string of awards to back up his ego.
Working for the San Bernardino Sun in the late 1970s, Schneider was consistently the best newspaper photographer in California. But a dramatic conversion experience meant God was bent on changing his focus on self. The transformation began immediately. Schneider says, “The biggest change was the depth of my compassion for other people.” His coworkers especially benefited from a friendlier Greg in the workplace. Before his conversion, he says, “I wouldn’t give them the time of day.”
Schneider now sees potential for Christian photographers to have a great impact on their colleagues in media institutions. “There are already enough Christians in Christian organizations. There are not enough Christians in news organizations.”
Today, Schneider’s clients include many A-list Christian organizations and publishers. He illustrated One Incredible Moment, a Christmas book by Max Lucado. Before working for himself, he was a staff photographer for Campus Crusade for Christ.
Despite a kinder, gentler attitude, or perhaps because of it, the awards kept coming in. He won California Newspaper Photographer of the Year and Regional Newspaper Photographer of the Year, both for a second time. Soon after becoming a Christian, he joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ, where he traveled to 80 or so countries for Worldwide Challenge magazine.
Schneider says, “Since I came to Christ, I really think of myself as an agent of the Lord’s public relations firm. The particular product I’m promoting—Jesus Christ. I’m reluctant to take pictures that cast that product in a poor light.”
He makes no apologies for bringing his strong viewpoint to work behind the lens each day. “I’m truly trying to make the kind of picture that will move people to invest in God’s kingdom in different ways.”
Denise McGill is a photojournalist in residence at Gardner-Webb University.
Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere:
Greg Schneider’s photographs appear in Worldwide Challenge magazine.
Wednesday, we featured Mei-Chun Jau.
Tuesday, we featured Jon Warren.
Monday, we featured Joanna Pinneo.
More about Christians in Photojournalism, including more pictures, is available on their website.
Other Christianity Today photo essays include:
Saving Strangers | The journey of one Somali Bantu family in the largest group resettlement of African refugees in U.S. history. (July 02, 2004)
River Deep Mercy Wide | A medical journey on the Rio Negro in Brazil’s Amazon Basin (Feb. 06, 2004)
