Act 2:36-38 is what this man, Job, and his wife, Roniwah, told me when I asked them to share any words of advice they had for the viewers of the photos I had captured of them that afternoon.

My wife, Julia, her friend Kristen, Kristen’s son Caleb, and I all arrived at Neptune Beach in Jacksonville the afternoon of May 28th, 2016 and noticed a fairly large group of people on the beach watching the baptism of some their members taking place out in water. Naturally, I immediately recognized it as potentially great photo opportunity so I grabbed my camera, walked down to where they were, and start documenting what I saw.

Job was walking out to be baptized just after I got there. He turned around and stood as the pastors prayed over him and then swiftly dipped him in the water. When they raised him back out of the water the celebration I caught – well – as a Christian myself – I couldn’t help but feel incredibly happy for him. And I knew I had just captured a great moment for him.

Much to my surprise, it got even better after that, though. Job walked back out of the water, gave his wife, Roniwah, a great big hug, then he took her hand and lead her out into the surf to the pastors. Once there he got down on his knees in the water in front of her and prayed with the pastors just before they dipped her in the water too – washing her sins away in the process (Acts 2:16).

The celebration – the happiness – I captured once again made me thank God for putting me there to capture it for them.

These photos say far more about how it felt than my words can:

“Sometimes I do get to places just when God is ready to have somebody click the shutter.” -Ansel Adams

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