Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Before-After 05 - God makes a pact with the Devil

rollover to see original image

This one was one of the first images that I uploaded to the microstock sites. It has been very successful and is still being downloaded at a steady pace.
I'm not much of a religious person and I never thought that this concept could be somewhat offensive to some people. That was never my intention, of course.
The fact is that some time ago I received a message from a image buyer that went across this image in Dreamstime.com, saying in a obvious angry tone, that I should be ashamed of myself because I should know that in the Bible this situation is not described so it could NEVER HAPPEN!!...
I wrote back to her saying I was very sorry if I had offended her but that's never been my intention, and in a humorous attempt I said "Take it this way: The Devil is trying to pull God into his domains... He's diabolic!"... Just a little joke...
She never wrote back. And I strongly believe she didn't buy the photo.
Thanks goes to CP and Zé for letting me borrow their arms.
..........
"Deus Faz Um Pacto Com o Diabo". Esta foi uma das primeiras imagens que enviei para as agências de microstock. Tem tido bastante sucesso e ainda é comprada a um bom ritmo.
Eu não sou uma pessoa muito religiosa e nunca pensei que este conceito fosse de algum modo ofensivo para algumas pessoas. Com certeza que isso nunca foi a minha intenção. O facto é que há algum tempo atrás, recebi uma mensagem de uma compradora de imagens que se tinha cruzado com esta foto no Dreamstime.com, dizendo em tom obviamente zangado, que eu devia ter vergonha e que devia saber que esta situação não está descrita na Biblia e por isso NUNCA PODERÍA ACONTECER!!...
Eu respondi-lhe dizendo que lamentava de a ter ofendido mas que isso nunca foi intencional. E numa tentativa espirituosa de pôr paninhos quentes na fervura, disse "Veja assim: O Diabo está a tentar puxar Deus para os seu domínios... Ele é diabólico!"... Era só uma piadinha...
Ela não voltou a responder-me. E tenho um forte pressentimento de que não comprou a imagem.
Obrigado ao CP e ao Zé por me emprestarem os respectivos braços.

8 comments:

  1. Images on religious depictions, especially hypothetical depictions are bound to cause offence to some. Many Muslims were offended to see images of the Prophet Muhammad with bombs. This situation and the situation in your photo are pure fabrications and believers know it. So they should to a large extent, brush off the illustrative depictions that they see and simply continue with their beliefs. I don't think that you have tried to spite anyone with your photo, it's just a conception and people can either take it or leave it.

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  2. My thoughts exactly. Thank you for your comment.

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  3. Hi Carlos, hubby and I are both Christians, I am a lay person and he is a priest in the Church of England, none of us found this image offensive. I think it is very versatile "a helping hand", "God helps you even out of deep trouble", God wants to save everybody" etc. I would not necessarily think that the person in the fire is the devil, I see it more as a person who got himself in deep trouble and God gives him a helping hand. It is a great stock image as it can be used for a lot of purposes, SY
    PS Thanks for the link, I will link back to you from one of my other sites ;-)

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  4. Thank you for your comment Sybille.
    Yes, I guess you're right. It can be interpreted in many different ways, as you said. Then, maybe I should change its title because as it is, it may be too biased.

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  5. Good idea, why not call it "A helping hand"? Btw excellent site, love the "rolling over" effects. Do you plan to publish tutorials also? SY

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  6. No, not in my plans for a near future...

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  7. Hi, Carlos.
    Congrats on your Shutterstock sales. Your work is beautiful.
    As a Christian, and like Hospitalera, I also see this work as The Lord helping and saving a poor hurting person.
    Thank you for sharing the details about your work.
    -Jerry

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  8. Think about it...There has tp be a pact between God and Satan....Otherwise why would Satan punish you for even care if you broke God's Laws.

    Jim C.

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