Fr. Doll began taking photos while working on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota in 1962. He said that after taking photos for over two years, he became discouraged because he “still hadn’t taken a decent picture.”

He considered giving up photography and went for a walk in the South Dakota prairie to think about what his mission as a Jesuit should be. “I heard a loud voice saying: ‘Stay with photography. It’s the first thing you really loved doing. Stay with it. Don’t worry if it takes 10 years,’ ” he recalls.

Fr. Doll stuck with photography, and his work has been published in National Geographic magazine and three books. His newest publication is an autobiographical book “A Call to Vision: A Jesuit’s Perspective on the World.”

Grandmother Therchik, a Yupik Eskimo, enjoyed a moment with her grandchildren. The bonds of kinship are powerful in Eskimo society. Courtesy Don Doll, SJ.

Fr. Doll has used photography to promote Native American culture. “I learned to respect another culture, because we were immersed in it,” Fr. Doll said. “And I really learned about the values that the Native Americans have of sharing and their sense of generosity with one another, and how they honor you.”

In 1974, Fr. Doll returned to the Rosebud Reservation as a documentary photographer. He said he often prayed before releasing the shutter. “I used to pray that I could really make photographs that portrayed how special they are and something of the empathy they had and that God has for them,” he explained.

During a 30-day retreat, Fr. Doll discovered a link between prayer and photography. “I said: ‘Oh my god! Prayer is just like photography, where you have to let go of what you want to happen or what you think’s going to happen. You have to let go of your preconceptions and I think that same thing applies to photographing. You have to let go of your suppositions of what the picture is or should be and just be present in the moment.’ ”

Read the full story about Fr. Doll on the New York Times website and watch the Creighton University video that celebrates the photography of Fr. Doll below.

Fr. Doll, a renowned photographer whose work was featured in National Geographic magazine in 1984 and 1990, has traveled the globe “to tell the stories of people who have no voice.” His ministry began on the plains of South Dakota in the early 1960s while working with the Lakota people on the Rosebud Reservation. He had joined the Jesuit order after graduating from high school in 1955.

“The first week I was there they said, ‘Would you like to learn photography?’

“I said, ‘Sounds like fun.’”

After two years of training and experience in photography, he questioned that choice.

“I went for a walk on the prairie (wondering) ‘What the heck am I going to do as a Jesuit?” the 75-year-old priest reminisced. “I’m not brilliant like some of these guys.”

Feeling he hadn’t taken “a single decent picture after two-and-a-half years,” he suddenly heard a voice inside him say: ‘Stay with the photography, it’s the first thing you love doing, don’t worry if it takes 10 years.’

“It did!” he added with a laugh.

“I see how the Holy Spirit speaks to us in the depths of our hearts and I trust that,” he said. “I don’t hear voices a lot (but) when I have a hunch, I really trust that’s how the Holy Spirit speaks to me. It’s true of every project I’ve taken on.”

Since 1969, Father Doll has worked at Creighton University in Omaha, where he is a professor of journalism. For the last 20 years, he has documented the work of the Jesuit Refugee Service in some 50 countries including India, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Sudan and Rwanda. These assignments, he said, working with “the poorest of the poor” have been close to his heart.

“Jesuits have a mission: Faith doing justice,” he shared, quoting his personal artist statement. “I photograph to tell the stories of people who have no voice. Hopefully, I can help others understand and work to change unjust social structures.”

He often finds himself praying that he can look at people and photograph them “with something of the empathy and understanding that God has for them.”

“Often I’m asked if being a priest affects my photography,” he shared, reflecting on nearly 44 years in the priesthood. “My answer is always: ‘Yes, it has everything to do with it.’”

“For me, it’s hard to separate the creative process of ‘seeing’ from prayer. Both can be contemplative acts.”

To commemorate a half-century in photography, Fr. Doll is working on a book and considering an art exhibit to be on display at the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. For more about Father Doll and to view his work, visit magis.creighton.edu. You can read more about him in this Denver Catholic Register, the newspaper of the Denver diocese, article.

This year four Canadian Jesuits will show their photographs as part of the 17th annual Contact festival. With more than 1,000 venues spread around Toronto and as many as 1.8 million sets of eyeballs taking in the work of an international lineup of photographers through the month of May, Contact is the largest photography event in the world.

The Jesuit show at Regis College on the campus of the University of Toronto is called “In All Things.” It runs May 10 to 26.

Second-year theologian Marc Aristotle de Asis loves the process of discovery inherent in photography. The Contact show will be the first time the 29-year-old Jesuit will see his photographs hung for a gallery crowd.

“I let myself be amazed by what the camera captures,” said de Asis of the fireworks photos he will show.

His photos will hang along with nature and abstract photography by Jesuit Fathers Gilles Mongeau and Teo Ugaban, and Jesuit Trevor Scott.

De Asis has been playing around with cameras since he was very young. Growing up in the Philippines, de Asis’s father had a darkroom. Though he claims to have been a haphazard photographer and printmaker in those days, he loved seeing what would come out of the trays of chemicals.

Photography wasn’t part of his spiritual life until his novice master, Fr. Philip Shano, urged him to channel some of his energy into photography. In the context of the initial two years of Jesuit life photography took on new dimensions.

“It’s all contemplation,” he said. “It’s a way to enter into the whole experience.”

To capture a moment requires the kind of attentiveness that is at the very heart of Ignatian spirituality, according to de Asis.

Find out more about the Contact photography exhibit and the works by the Jesuits which will be on display in this article from The Catholic Register.

He’s photographed Jesuits assisting Tsunami victims in India and Sri Lanka in 2005; refugees in Burundi, Rwanda and the Congo in 2007; and Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad along the Darfur border in 2008. Most recently, one of Doll’s photos was selected by 1001 Stories of Common Ground‘s Positive Change in Action competition showcasing pieces which highlight the positive changes in the Arab world.

Currently, Doll is a professor of photojournalism at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. where he holds the Charles and Mary Heider Endowed Jesuit Chair. Recently, he took time out from his busy schedule to speak with National Jesuit News by phone for our monthly podcast series. You can listen to the interview with Doll below:

On December 3, 2010, the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Boston Archbishop Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap., presided at the blessing of the Chapel of the Holy Name of Jesus at the Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community near the Boston College (BC) campus.

The chapel stands at the heart of the Jesuit Community of the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry (BCSTM). Named for one of the first Jesuits who was known for his preaching and spiritual guidance, the Faber Community is home to BCSTM faculty members and 55 Jesuits from more than twenty countries who are preparing for priesthood and other ministries in the Catholic Church. The new community residence was needed when the former Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts reaffiliated with Boston College and moved to the BC campus.

“The opening of the Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community this fall enriches the strong Jesuit presence on the BC campus,” said Jesuit Father Thomas H. Smolich, president of the Jesuit Conference. “The Jesuits appreciate the support Cardinal O’Malley has given to our ministry of priestly formation through his blessing of the chapel.”

Cardinal O’Malley expressed gratitude to the Society of Jesus for service to the Church in Boston and throughout the world. As evidence of his gratitude, Cardinal O’Malley is giving the community an image of Our Lady of Montserrat to place in the chapel. The pilgrimage site of Montserrat in Spain is where St. Ignatius of Loyola formally abandoned his military and courtly life and embraced his new identity as a pilgrim, a first step toward his founding of the Society of Jesus.

In addition to  Fr. Smolich, principal concelebrants of the Eucharist were Jesuit Fathers Bradley M. Schaeffer, rector of the Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community, William P. Leahy, president of Boston College, and Steven C. Dillard, secretary for formation at the Jesuit Conference.

On December 3, 2010, the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Boston Archbishop Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap., presided at the blessing of the Chapel of the Holy Name of Jesus at the Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community near the Boston College (BC) campus.

The chapel stands at the heart of the Jesuit Community of the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry (BCSTM). Named for one of the first Jesuits who was known for his preaching and spiritual guidance, the Faber Community is home to BCSTM faculty members and 55 Jesuits from more than twenty countries who are preparing for priesthood and other ministries in the Catholic Church. The new community residence was needed when the former Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts reaffiliated with Boston College and moved to the BC campus.

“The opening of the Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community this fall enriches the strong Jesuit presence on the BC campus,” said Jesuit Father Thomas H. Smolich, president of the Jesuit Conference. “The Jesuits appreciate the support Cardinal O’Malley has given to our ministry of priestly formation through his blessing of the chapel.”

Cardinal O’Malley expressed gratitude to the Society of Jesus for service to the Church in Boston and throughout the world. As evidence of his gratitude, Cardinal O’Malley is giving the community an image of Our Lady of Montserrat to place in the chapel. The pilgrimage site of Montserrat in Spain is where St. Ignatius of Loyola formally abandoned his military and courtly life and embraced his new identity as a pilgrim, a first step toward his founding of the Society of Jesus.

In addition to  Fr. Smolich, principal concelebrants of the Eucharist were Jesuit Fathers Bradley M. Schaeffer, rector of the Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community, William P. Leahy, president of Boston College, and Steven C. Dillard, secretary for formation at the Jesuit Conference.

With gentrification morphing the once crime-ridden and drug-infested streets of the Lower East Side of Manhattan into storefronts filled with swanky merchandise and hip restaurants, the Nativity Mission Center, a Jesuit middle school that for nearly 40 years has been educating promising, but poor, boys in the neighborhood is starting to feel out of place. Knowing that the school must be located where the need is greatest, Jesuit Father Jack Podsiadlo is  following in the tradition of intrepid Jesuit missionaries and has embarked on an urban expedition: finding a needy neighborhood where he can relocate his school by 2012.

Fr. Podsiadlo’s quest to find the right location for his school and highlights of the work of the Nativity Mission Center are profiled in this piece in the New York Times. You can also view a slideshow of photos of the school and the Lower East Side neighborhood where it is currently located.

With gentrification morphing the once crime-ridden and drug-infested streets of the Lower East Side of Manhattan into storefronts filled with swanky merchandise and hip restaurants, the Nativity Mission Center, a Jesuit middle school that for nearly 40 years has been educating promising, but poor, boys in the neighborhood is starting to feel out of place. Knowing that the school must be located where the need is greatest, Jesuit Father Jack Podsiadlo is  following in the tradition of intrepid Jesuit missionaries and has embarked on an urban expedition: finding a needy neighborhood where he can relocate his school by 2012.

Fr. Podsiadlo’s quest to find the right location for his school and highlights of the work of the Nativity Mission Center are profiled in this piece in the New York Times. You can also view a slideshow of photos of the school and the Lower East Side neighborhood where it is currently located.

A takeoff on the “Flat Stanley Project” where children document the places and activities the beloved paper doll encounters, “Flat Fr. Martinez” travels with his friends of Cristo Rey Jesuit this summer, and the school has been tracking his adventures on their website. Students have reported he’s been an ideal travel companion, but a little quiet.

To see some of the places “Flat Fr. Martinez” has visited this summer, view the photo sideshow below:

Magis Productions, founded by noted photojournalist Jesuit Father Don Doll of Creighton University, will receive the 2010 Chief Standing Bear Organizational Award this Friday, May 14 in the Nebraska State Capitol Rotunda.

Awarded by the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, the honor recognizes Fr. Doll and his colleague Carol McCabe for their work in the field of photography, particularly portrait photography, which gives “voice to Native American peoples and promotes social justice for all.”

Members of the Kateri Drum Group of St. Augustine Indian Mission, Winnebago, Neb., will perform at the awards event.

“It’s an honor to accept this award,” said Doll who was introduced to photography when he was assigned to the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota as a young Jesuit in the late 1960s. “It’s been a privilege to make photographs that in some small way assist Native Americans in the pride they take in their heritage and their identity.”

Since 2005, Fr. Doll has photographed children of St. Augustine Indian Mission each year for the award-winning St. Augustine fine arts calendar. The 2009 St. Augustine Calendar was named the No. 1 non-profit calendar in the nation by the Calendar Marketing Association.

Each year since 1997, Fr. Doll also has photographed students of Red Cloud Indian School, Pine Ridge, S.D., for its fine arts calendar.

During the last four decades, Fr. Doll has gained international recognition for his work. He has received the Kodak Crystal Eagle Award for Impact in Photojournalism; and the Nikon “World Understanding through Photography” award. He was named 2006 Nebraska Artist of the Year by the Nebraska Arts Council.

Doll is Professor of Photojournalism at Creighton University, Omaha, where he holds the Charles and Mary Heider Endowed Jesuit Chair. His work has been featured in National Geographic magazine, and a number of Day in the Life books, including America, California, Italy, Ireland, Passage to Vietnam, Christmas in America and America at Home.

His photographs also have been published in Crying for a Vision (Morgan and Morgan Publishers) and Vision Quest: Men, Women and Sacred Sites of the Sioux Nation (Crown Publishers). The interactive Vision Quest CD-ROM features much of his work. Nebraska Public TV produced the award-winning Don Doll’s Vision Quest – available on DVD.

Doll’s work has taken him to other parts of the world. He photographed Jesuits assisting Tsunami victims in India and Sri Lanka in 2005; refugees in Burundi, Rwanda and the Congo in 2007; Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad along the Darfur border in 2008. Most recently, he photographed Jesuits working with refugees along the Thai/Burma border, in Aceh, Indonesia and East Timor.

“I photograph to tell the stories of people who have no voice. Hopefully, I can help others understand and work to change unjust social structures.”

For more information about Magis Productions at Creighton University, visit http://magis.creighton.edu/ The St. Augustine 2010 calendar photographs can be viewed 24” x 36” year-around at the Betty Strong Encounter Center, Sioux City Iowa. [Exit 149 on I-29, or http://www.siouxcitylcic.com/]