Rabbi Michoel Ogince has always had a passion for photography, and when he decided two years ago to fuse his love of the camera with his love for Judaism, he gave birth to what he considers a masterpiece.
From “Pictures With a Purpose,” a photo blog hosted by the Chabad.org website, Ogince shares his work with an audience that spans the globe. Each week, he features an original piece illustrating an inspirational caption gleaned from Torah and Chasidic thought.
“What I like about his photos is that he reinvents himself every week,” says Helene Bortz of S. Diego, Calif., a self-described fan whose son introduced her to the world illuminated by Ogince’s lens.
“It’s uplifting, and you’ll always find something that relates to you,” she explains. “He’s like a little ray of light each week. He brings you a smile, and everybody in today’s world needs that.”
Ogince’s idea began as a simple Thursday email back in 2008, with the photographer distributing images and captions to about 60 friends and family members.
“I did the same thing the following Thursday and the next Thursday,” he says. “And people started emailing me from all over the world saying I want this email.”
Ogince’s weekly photo is now sent to about 12,000 email addresses around the world in places throughout North and South America, Europe, republics across the former Soviet Union, China, and Africa.
“As a kid, I grew up with a camera in my hand,” says Ogince, a 32-year-old resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., who grew up in Australia as an adventurer with a penchant for hiking and biking.
During his teenage years and 20’s, Ogince travelled the globe. He spent three months in the mountains of New Zealand and trekked through parts of Asia, Europe and North America, always with his camera in tow. What he lacked in formal training, he says, he made up for with a keen eye for beauty and the endless opportunities offered by nature.
His fascination with and dedication to Jewish practice, meanwhile, began at the age of 22. He was drawn to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, and studied in yeshivas in Israel and New Jersey. He recently completed his rabbinical training in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, where he lives with his wife and six-month-old daughter.
Ogince freely admits that photography is a side job, although he hopes to eventually devote all of his energy to teaching about Judaism through photography. For the time being, he works as the director of digital and social media marketing for a financial company; he’s also a certified-physical therapist specializing in neck and back pain.
“Photography,” he writes on his personal website, Oneinfocus.org, is his “spiritual paintbrush.”
“I love Judaism and love writing about Judaism,” he says. “I love taking Chasidic concepts and writing them into very simple language that people can digest and understand.”
Labor of Love
Ogince sets aside several hours each week to photograph and then chooses an image to use with the help of his wife. Formulating the perfect caption to go alongside the photo is a tedious process, taking up to seven hours to get everything just right.
“First comes the photograph, then I study it and mix it with what I’m learning this week,” he explains.
For his material, Ogince draws on many sources, including the Talmud, the Mishnaic compendium of ethical advice known as Pirkei Avot, Psalms and the Tanya, a foundational Chasidic text penned in the 18th century by the First Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi.
He photographs practically everything, including people, objects, architecture and nature.
“I use a lot of complex lighting,” says Ogince, who works with a Nikon D90 camera.
“Any professional artist will tell you the most important thing in photography is the eye of the photographer,” he adds. “It has nothing to do with the camera, whether it’s expensive or cheap. It’s all about seeing and capturing the world.”
Ogince’s images often involve sophisticated setups and props, like the arrangement of a strobe light behind a religious text to illuminate it in a bright pink glow. He consults with a mentor, Rabbi Eli Feldman of Sydney, Australia, whenever an issue of Jewish law presents itself.
“He’s been crucial in helping this project be successful,” Ogince says of Feldman.
Yechiel Nadler is director of project developments for One In Focus.
“I’m excited to be with the company because there’s so much excitement in each picture,” says Nadler. “It’s a very easy way to see G‑dliness in mundane things.”
Bortz agrees.
“They say a picture is worth a thousand words,” says the S. Diego resident. “He has the picture and the words.”
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