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them, giving them suggestions about the
kinds of drawings we are Dear Readers,
looking for. Our regularly
held meetings with Mike I would like to share with you what we do on the visual
Turner, our cartoonist, are aspects of the magazine - images and design. A good picture
great fun, and we share speaks a thousand words. This is the power of the visual
some humorous ideas image. We know that the values of Jainism are relevant to our
with him which he jots present day life of stress, conflict and greed. Wouldn't it be
down on his sketch pad, great to show this through images and art, such that anyone
and turns them into who sees it at once feels calm, peaceful and attracted to
colourful cartoons which discover Jain wisdom? Our ancient temples at Shravana
are funny too! They often Belgola, Mount Abu, Palitana or Ranakpur have this
carry quite a subtle but mesmerising quality. How can we replicate this effect in a
powerful message. print magazine?
In order to encourage As editor, I work on commissioning interesting and varied
people to take good articles from different writers. Then, our photo researcher and
photos, and to help us editor, Alison Kent reads the accepted articles, and we decide
build our own photo what message we want to visually portray through each
collection for Jain Spirit, article. She then starts doing her photo research, contacting
we have embarked on photo libraries or artists for illustrations and going through
a Photo Competition our own collection.
announced in this issue. How do we visually portray the benefits of non-violence
See page 23 for details. in the modern world? Do we show a picture of someone
We would like you meditating, or of someone stopping a fight? What about
to read the instructions insects helping each other, or a lion caring for a deer? Good
and consider submitting pooja photos can encourage someone who has never done
selected photos, which one, to try it on their next visit to the temple. And what of
will be judged by an simplicity? Greed is everywhere around us, but we need to
eminent panel. Even if show positive photos of how not having comforts need not
you do not win, there is a mean unhappiness. Think of these images, and try to capture
chance that your photo Jains living aparigraha. Community sharing and worship has
will be published in a future issue of the magazine. Please a unique impact, reminding us of the benefits of sharing. Can
share this competition with others who may not be We capture this in photographs?
subscribing to Jain Spirit but are interested. We often struggle to get good Jain photos as there is no
Once we have chosen the pictures, we then decide how to Jain photo library anywhere in the world. There are private
crop them and lay them out on the page for maximum impact. collections, but it is difficult for
We think of captions which us to find out who has them
emphasise particular points made and how to contact them. A Good Picture Speaks
in the article and ensure there are Furthermore, we do not always know in advance which photos A Thousand Words
credits for photographers and
artists. So far, we have concenwe will be using. Some photog
trated the bulk of our efforts on raphers like Michael Freeman, Jayu Shah and Robert Radin
photos, and would also like to work with artists in future, to have given us their photo collections which we keep in our
get a variety of images. Please contact us if you would like library, and select and use from as and when we need them.
to illustrate for this magazine. This is really helpful, and we would like you to send us such
As this issue goes to press, there are two major internacollections if you can spare them, and lend them to us. In this
tional youth conferences this year, the Young Jains of way, people from all over the world can see your pictures.
America convention in New Jersey, and the Young Jains Good photos are rare, and photographers spend time, skill
International Convention in the UK. The Board of Directors and money to get them. They also need to travel to various
has very generously decided to offer a gift subscription to all sites, and purchase expensive equipment. Similarly, good
the youths who register for these events. artists and illustrators need to earn a living to practise their
Happy Reading! art. As a result, we do pay for the images we use, to encourage the artists and photographers to survive and continue their art. This is in spite of our budget constraints.
Atul K. Shah We know that our readers appreciate and enjoy good images. Executive Editor Even with illustrators, we need to be patient and work with editor@jainspirit.org
Jain Education International 2010_03
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