April is the cruellest month

It's much harder to be creative than most people think because it strains the mind very much. Like the last assignment I've had for photojournalism has taken alot of energy for me. It's basically about shooting a series of pictures of interesting people and their lives or occupations or something similar and that doesnt sound so hard. But it can be. Maybe i just makes it harder for me than it is but that's a good practise too i guess. Its also hard because when you think you got a really good idea it fails because of several different reasons like people not contacting you back and things. So you move on to the next idea and next idea and it just continues until you're out of ideas. I was lucky and stumbled upon something that could be really interesting though, in the very last minute and that was to take pictures inside the church of Scientologists...

So, heres my experience with them:

I went there last thursday first. Nicky and Stanley was with me and we walked up the stairs to the reception. We came to the reception and was greeted by this nice lady who asked if she could help us. I told her that i was doing an assignment for school and wanted to take pictures of this place because it seemed interesting. We talked for a while what the assignment was about and what kind of pictures i was gonna take. She seemed very positive to the idea and said that i should come back tomorrow because there was supposed to be another staffmember there who usually took care of things like this.

Next day i called them before i went over there just to check that it was still on which it was. Came there by 4pm and met the guy who i was gonna talk with. We sat down in his office and he asked what kind of assignment i had to do and what pictures i wanted to take. I explained myself but after a while he said that i actually werent allowed to take pictures. I was a bit shocked coz it seemed so certain the other day and that this would probably ruin my entire assignment.

He said that it wasnt usually allowed and that i could find everything they had there online, but i told him that it wasnt about the information they had there it was more about the pictures. He really seemed like he wasnt gonna allow me to take any pictures. So i said okej then, thank you and left my seat and he walked me out of his office. But then i stopped and thought, no, im to far in haha to let this go. So i stopped and asked about all the stuff they had there, their merchandise and their charts, their e-meters and stuff. He started to explain different stuff and i carried on asking him question after question to get him going. After talking for a while he let me take a few pictures of the place. We moved down the corridor and he showed me different stuff they had in there; more merchandise, books, courses and stuff and i took more pictures.

I asked how the e-meter worked and he asked another guy if he could do an demonstration. He said yes and was gonna set it up. After a while it was ready and we walked over there. The new guy instructed me to sit down and hold these two "cans" as they called them. It was like two aluminum cans which was connected to the blue little e-meter. Which is a device that ( i think) sets off a little bit off current through the cans. He then said that the next step was gonna hurt. Then he pinched me on my arm! He did what i want to call a "pinch-twist" which is just a pinch with a twist :p. But anyway, he then said that i should think about the moment of the pinch and the pain it caused me. It didnt hrut so much when he did it so it was hard to think about it. But i tried and made this really ugly face trying to think of it. He stared at the e-meter to see if it moved. It moved a bit but he congfigured it and said with a loud voice: THINK ABOUT THE MOMENT OF THE PAIN! and then stared at the e-meter which was barely moving this time. So once again he said with a loud voice: THINK ABOUT THE MOMENT OF THE PAIN! but nothing happened. The first guy then said: yeah yeah i think it moved the most the first time! They agreed with eachother but seemed a bit dissapointed.

Obviously i wasnt thinking hard enough. They told me the device was used to treat bad memories sort of, in some way. Then they seemed to be eager to get me out of there and said that it was everything they had to show me. I felt pretty much ready but started asking about the room in the beginning of the corridor. It had the text; Ron Hubbard - FOUNDER on the top of it. I asked what it was used for and he said that their founder used to travell alot before he died and that they had kept an office as a tradition. I then asked if i could take some pictures in there also which i was allowed to do.

After a while i felt pretty much ready and we walked towards the stairs down. Suddenly comes this woman out of nowhere and asks if she can talk to the guy who was showing me around and that i should wait there for a few minutes. I thought that she just wanted to talk to him about something business related or whatchamacall it but she had something else in mind. After some minutes they both came out from his office and walked towards me. She then said that she was sorry but that i isntantly had to delete every picture i had taken because no one was allowed to "just walk in there and take pictures". So i said that both the guy who showed me around and the lady from yesterday had granted me permission so it wasnt like i had "just walked in there". She then refused to listen and said that it wasnt permitted to take any pictures in there anyway. She then wanted me to show her that i deleted the pictures.

I got a bit shocked by this coz it seemed like a prettty chilled enviroment nonetheless and i hadnt taken any pictures that was like of something no one else could see if they just walked in there. But they both stared at me and waited for me to delete the pictures...

To be continued.

PS: The picture at the top is my first picture for my landscape photography project im doing on modern architecture landscape.