These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. -Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (NIV).

In the Old Testament time period, talking about scripture and displaying it in the home was a command to be followed. Like much of Old Testament law, today Christians interpret that ancient command as a suggestion and the burden of displaying scripture has been relegated to Sunday school classes and Christian schools.

When I see these types of posters in classrooms and churches across the world, I always wonder about the story behind the photo. I often wonder if the posters were created with an intention of artistry or if they were designed by some hack that has access to stock photos and wants to make a buck. In order to answer that curiosity, I’ve explained the origin of the photos for each of these five posters.

For the past year, I’ve been a fairly active photographer, and I decided to contribute to the Bible verse poster genre. These posters are designed to fit best on A3 international paper. Clicking on the photo will take you to my SmugMug site, and you can order the poster from there. Alternatively, you can download low quality files or pay for the full version.

The picture of this dog was taken in a park during Spring Break in Ueno, Japan. I had no idea I would be using the photo on a poster, but the bright sunny day sharpened the dog’s features through the lens of my camera. I rapidly clicked my camera to get a quick photo, and as I reviewed the pictures I realized I had captured the bulldog licking his chops. Proverbs 26:11 seemed like the perfect fit for this poster.

The photo for the Matthew 5:16 poster was taken during a retreat at Telunas Beach, Indonesia. During the nightly campfires the staff sets up torches along the beach. To take the photo, I made the aperture of my camera very small and did a long term exposure. The bright flare of the torch reminded me of how our Christian walk is supposed to look to non-believers. The succession of torches in the background reminded me of the legacy that each Christian should leave behind.

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The photo was taken at a park dedicated to the Japanese surrender in Tokyo. We should follow Psalms 90:12 and realize that our days on this earth are limited, and that success during the short time requires walking with wisdom. Astute readers will notice that I did change the pronouns in the Bible verse. Most translations say, “Teach us to number our ways…” Since there is only one bird in the photo and the message stayed the same, I thought the change was appropriate.

This photo was taken at the International Flower Festival at Sentosa Island in Singapore. When we look at any aspect of creation, especially the aesthetically pleasing ones, we should remember that God created and designed them for His purposes. Proverbs 3:20 reminds us that just as God knows our every thought, he also knows every drop of water he created from the vast oceans to the tiniest drops.

This photo was taken at the Stone Forest near Kunming, China. Jeremiah 51:15 tells use that God established every detail according to his purposes. Undoubtedly God has a special purpose for this unique region of China.

This stone forest photo is my first attempt at a high dynamic range photo; I combined photos with three different exposure contrasts to create one picture.