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Anna Iliff -- Photo Contributor
 Anna Iliff is a 2012 graduate of Literary Journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She has written and photographed for Los Alamitos Patch, The Orange County Register, Examiner.com, New University, and The Mountaineer. Anna Iliff enjoys writing about subcultures, places, and the people she meets. She currently works as a freelance writer and as an administrator for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Cal State Fullerton. Anna aspires to work as a feature writer in the Orange County area. In her free time, she enjoys performing choral music, photographing her travel adventures, and keeping up with news and social media.
The story behind the story:
I grew up attending non-denominational churches. When I was 19, I made the decision to be baptized by a former youth pastor in a friend’s backyard pool. It was a huge celebration that I never thought of as unique because I was part of the subculture. A backyard baptism was a rite of passage no different than a Quinceanera or Bar Mitzvah. I understood what it meant to be a “born again Christian” because I was brought up that way. It wasn’t until I was talking with a non-religious friend of mine that I realized how strange adult baptisms were to those outside of the subculture. Christianity is so often included in mainstream American culture, but so rarely are outsiders exposed to these rituals. I set out to photograph a piece that could shed light on adult baptisms and the metaphorical side of modern Christianity. This photo essay is about community and how a signal symbolic act can transform someone’s life.
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