Interview: John Sharpless
John Sharpless created a photo slideshow “Transitions” while he was at Pendle Hill in January 2010 for the three-week intensive, “Faithful Transitions: Spiritual Discernment in a Time of Change.” Below, in an interview with Shirley Dodson, John talks about his photography, his work as a physiatrist, and his experience of Pendle Hill.
John, as I look at your photos of Pendle Hill, I’m impressed at how they express a spirit of worship, centeredness, and peace. Can you share something about how you take photos like these in your slideshow? Is there preparation that is helpful – spiritual, practical, etc.?
JS I took a nature photography workshop not too long ago in which the leader encouraged us to “sit” with the place that we intended to photograph rather than simply jump in and start clicking away. If that sounds like Zen meditation, you would be exactly right. I had wanted to capture something of the experience of meeting for worship and particularly worship in the Pendle Hill meeting room. I experimented with a number of ways of doing that in my mind. While sitting meditatively in meeting for worship, I found myself noticing details within the space. I tried to record those details, because, in some way, seeing those images helps me to recall the experience of being with the Pendle Hill community in that space. Other people tell me that they respond to these images in a similar way, which I find very gratifying.
You took Sharon Gunther’s program, “Holding in the Light, Framing the Sacred.” What did you experience in this workshop? Did you find new insight or inspiration for your photography?
JS Well, the first thing I experienced was noticing that I was the only guy in the room with eight women, but I figured the group needed a little testosterone. I felt very welcome and supported. Sharon is an extremely enthusiastic leader and we all learned a lot about technique and wonder of creating images in ways that we hadn’t tried before. It was inspiring to see other’s work created during the workshop and some examples of images that they had done before coming too. But the thing that inspired me the most from that short course came during morning meeting in the Barn on the last day. I received a message during worship that what I should be about with my photography is to make visible that which is unseen but known in the heart. It seems to me that’s my mission as a photographer.
Your slideshow was prepared during Pendle Hill’s three-week intensive, “Faithful Transitions: Spiritual Discernment in a Time of Change,” in January 2010. Can you briefly describe your experience of this program and how it affected you?
JS Although I find the work that I’ve been doing satisfying in many ways, I’ve been living and working in the same place, clerking our little Friends meeting, and eating the same breakfast for as long as I can remember. I’d been feeling for some time that I need to move on, make a change. When my wife pointed out the three-week intensive program, I jumped at it since it seemed to offer an opportunity to explore in depth just what I might do with the rest of my life. The experience lived up to its title – it was intense. But it was also very rewarding. The combination of class, small group sessions, worship, work, and free time away from my usual home and work environment proved rich. We were encouraged to do a lot of journaling and I used my photography as a major form of that in addition to writing. In the end I came away confirmed in my commitment to the use of photography as a worthy avenue of creative expression.
In your work as a physician, you face many people seeking healing. Can you say something about your work? How do you gain strength for the challenges it brings?
JS I’m a physiatrist, a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation. As such I see a lot of folks who have disabling, often painful, conditions that limit what they can do or how they go about daily tasks. Sometimes I cure them, but more often I, along with teams of therapists and other professionals, try to help them cope with their limitations. Working with groups of other professionals in teams is one of the distinguishing characteristics of my specialty. I often gain support from these other professionals as well as satisfaction from reciprocating with encouragement to them in return. Often we and the patient fail to accomplish what we hoped to accomplish. But we get a lot of satisfaction from our successes, and in our team meetings, we try to point those success stories out, so we don’t get too discouraged over the failures.
I understand that your family has deep roots in this area. How did the Sharpless family first come to the area that now includes Pendle Hill? I realize that Pendle Hill has at least one tree that was here when your forebears arrived! What do these roots mean to you?
JS I had always known that my ancestors, John and Jane Sharples, had settled on land near Media in 1683. But it wasn’t until I was here for the three-week intensive program in January that I learned that part of that land is now where Pendle Hill is located. Someone told me that meant I shouldn’t have to pay to come here for programs. But I think it makes me feel more responsible for it. I should try to help it stay around and continue its mission.