I am not one to take photographs of groups of people. Faces are a different matter – the gateway to the soul.
I first discovered how rewarding this subject can be when my wife and I were doing research for Death on the Kunene and we visited Himba villages in the Sesfontein and Epupa areas. Many of those portraits, in black and white, hang in our home.
These portraits were taken in Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, the baptism site on the Jordan River, Jerusalem and in Jordan (despite the title). The last photograph is of an old woman’s hands resting on her walking stick, perhaps the best photograph I have ever taken.
Shepherd in Nazareth Village, a reconstruction of first century Israel.
Hannah, the weaver. She used only the material and processes that prevailed at the time. Nazareth Village.
Hannah in profile, so typical of what one would imagine a biblical woman would look like.
The thousand yard stare! A cart driver in Petra.
The clowns of Petra.
The ecstasy. Being baptised in the Jordan River at the site that is believed to be where Jesus was baptised by John. Lorna, one of our group.
The face, truly the gateway to the soul. Doug, one of our group.
A preacher talking to his group before they entered the river to be baptised. Dichotomy of an old face and modern technology.
One of his party. Attractive and cheerful colours for such a solemn occasion.
Raising the South African flag. A crewman on a Galilee boat
Our singer on the boat, a confusion of styles, the workman’s sweatshirt, the pony tail and the mirrored glasses.
Lawrence, one of our group, at the Wailing Wall. We were there on Shabbat and witnessed the joyous and fervent observance of the Jewish men – something to admire and hope to emulate.
A beggar women on the streets of Jerusalem.
These hands will haunt you. They are so much more illustrative of the divide between the have and have nots than a thousand words could describe. They belong to the beggar women of the previous image. One wonders if the rings are her most prized possessions.
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