Fr. Don Doll, S.J.
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Don Doll, S.J. is a Jesuit priest and well-known photographer whose work has been featured in National Geographic, [Hunters of the Bering Sea, June 1984, and The Athabascans along the Yukon, February, 1990] and a number of the Day in the Life of… books, including America, California, Italy, Ireland, Passage to Vietnam, and Christmas in America.
Artist Statement:
As a photographer, I see the world through the lens of who I am and the life I’ve lived. I can’t help but photograph from the life of faith that I’ve grown into as a priest over the past 28 years.
Often I find myself praying that I can look upon and photograph people with something of the empathy and the understanding God has for them.
Often I am asked if being a priest effects my photography. My answer is always, “Yes, it has everything to do with it.” For me it’s hard to separate the creative process of seeing from prayer. Both can be contemplative acts.
Both involve an openness to the Spirit — a willingness to let go of one’s presuppositions and go with the hunches and intuitions that arise deep within one’s heart where I believe the Spirit speaks within each of us.
I often struggle to separate myself from doing what other photographers have done in similar situations and to trust my own insights. I try to live a quote from Thomas Merton’s “New Seeds of Contemplation.”
How do you expect to reach your own perfection by leading someone else’s life. . . . You must have the humility to work out your own salvation in a darkness where you are absolutely alone. . . . It takes heroic humility to be yourself and to be nobody but the man or artist God intended you to be.”
Jesuits have a mission — “Faith doing Justice.” I photograph to tell the stories of people who have no voice. Hopefully I can help others understand and work to change unjust social structures.
Don Doll, S.J.
Artist Statement:
As a photographer, I see the world through the lens of who I am and the life I’ve lived. I can’t help but photograph from the life of faith that I’ve grown into as a priest over the past 28 years.
Often I find myself praying that I can look upon and photograph people with something of the empathy and the understanding God has for them.
Often I am asked if being a priest effects my photography. My answer is always, “Yes, it has everything to do with it.” For me it’s hard to separate the creative process of seeing from prayer. Both can be contemplative acts.
Both involve an openness to the Spirit — a willingness to let go of one’s presuppositions and go with the hunches and intuitions that arise deep within one’s heart where I believe the Spirit speaks within each of us.
I often struggle to separate myself from doing what other photographers have done in similar situations and to trust my own insights. I try to live a quote from Thomas Merton’s “New Seeds of Contemplation.”
How do you expect to reach your own perfection by leading someone else’s life. . . . You must have the humility to work out your own salvation in a darkness where you are absolutely alone. . . . It takes heroic humility to be yourself and to be nobody but the man or artist God intended you to be.”
Jesuits have a mission — “Faith doing Justice.” I photograph to tell the stories of people who have no voice. Hopefully I can help others understand and work to change unjust social structures.
Don Doll, S.J.