Weekly Photographs Bring Teachings Into Focus

Rabbi Michoel Ogince has always had a passion for photography, and when he decided two years ago to fuse his love of the camera with his love for Judaism, he gave birth to what he considers a masterpiece.

From “Pictures With a Purpose,” a photo blog hosted by the Chabad.org website, Ogince shares his work with an audience that spans the globe. Each week, he features an original piece illustrating an inspirational caption gleaned from Torah and Chasidic thought.

“What I like about his photos is that he reinvents himself every week,” says Helene Bortz of S. Diego, Calif., a self-described fan whose son introduced her to the world illuminated by Ogince’s lens.

“It’s uplifting, and you’ll always find something that relates to you,” she explains. “He’s like a little ray of light each week. He brings you a smile, and everybody in today’s world needs that.”

Ogince’s idea began as a simple Thursday email back in 2008, with the photographer distributing images and captions to about 60 friends and family members.

“I did the same thing the following Thursday and the next Thursday,” he says. “And people started emailing me from all over the world saying I want this email.”

Ogince’s weekly photo is now sent to about 12,000 email addresses around the world in places throughout North and South America, Europe, republics across the former Soviet Union, China, and Africa.

“As a kid, I grew up with a camera in my hand,” says Ogince, a 32-year-old resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., who grew up in Australia as an adventurer with a penchant for hiking and biking.

During his teenage years and 20’s, Ogince travelled the globe. He spent three months in the mountains of New Zealand and trekked through parts of Asia, Europe and North America, always with his camera in tow. What he lacked in formal training, he says, he made up for with a keen eye for beauty and the endless opportunities offered by nature.

His fascination with and dedication to Jewish practice, meanwhile, began at the age of 22. He was drawn to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, and studied in yeshivas in Israel and New Jersey. He recently completed his rabbinical training in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, where he lives with his wife and six-month-old daughter.

Ogince freely admits that photography is a side job, although he hopes to eventually devote all of his energy to teaching about Judaism through photography. For the time being, he works as the director of digital and social media marketing for a financial company; he’s also a certified-physical therapist specializing in neck and back pain.

“Photography,” he writes on his personal website, Oneinfocus.org, is his “spiritual paintbrush.”

“I love Judaism and love writing about Judaism,” he says. “I love taking Chasidic concepts and writing them into very simple language that people can digest and understand.”