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ORIGINAL POST: 1 Apr 2008
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March 21 began just like any other day… except for the fact I was in Jerusalem, Israel… with a brand new lens… and I was going to be in Jerusalem to use it… and we were going to the section of town where the Parliament and Supreme Court buildings are… in Jerusalem.
After being restricted by 28mm for a few days, getting 18mm back really does warm a guy’s heart.
The Jerusalem Tower Hotel… just look at those lovely skies…
…and a dust speck on the CCD. Hmm… just noticed that…
…oh well, what can you say? This camera has seen a lot of dusty places now…
Not that being restricted by equipment is any reason to take bad photos. A wise man once told me: “The best camera you’ll ever have is the one you have with you right now.” It really aggravates me when people see me and see my photographs and say “I wish I had a nice camera like that.”
I really want to tell them, “The only difference between you and me is the fact I took the time to learn my camera like it is an extension of my eye and I shoot THOUSANDS of frames per week to practice…”
…but that would sound conceited… so I don’t…
In fact, I really did notice how lazy I had gotten having the range of 18-135mm all the time. I had grown used to just reaching out a little further and not using the middle of the zoom range (around 35-60mm) for street. I almost had started to cheat sometimes and not gotten as close as I should have to be “sportsmanlike”. Like a photographer or two that I have seen in Athens on the park benches around Syntagma Square with a 120-400mm taking shots of people feeding the pidgeons 100m away.
Let’s go deer hunting with a rocket launcher, shall we?
So, my few days with nothing but primes and the 28-70mm (or heaven forbid the 80-200/2.8) taught me to get back to my roots and actually approach people – yes, EVEN with a full-body SLR – and take person photos and personal photos once again.
Like the crouching tiger people doing Thai Chi in the National Rose Garden… at around 60mm.
Even though it is very early spring in Israel, the flowers are still starting to bloom…
…and I just can’t wait to see the rest of Europe blooming in a few weeks.
Interestingly enough, in the Garden there is a door:
Why is this interesting? Because it is a door that cannot be opened but can be seen through. Even more interesting is the fact this door separates the Israeli Parliament building from the Supreme Court.
Get the symbolism yet?
From all the way back in the elementary schools, governments with democracies enjoy the concept of “checks and balances”. Each branch of a democracy (or democratic republic) has built-in powers over the other branches so that no one branch becomes too powerful.
Get the door symbolism? They can see what the other is doing, but never actually able to get to the other.
I’m probably just explaining something you all already know, though. Oh well…
Up next?
The world’s largest white chocolate Hershey Kiss… complete with its own cooling mechanism to make sure it doesn’t melt.
Or not… forget I said that.
Its the Dead Sea Scrolls bunker. This, too, contains loads of symbolism: for instance, the shape is the same as the tops of the jars the scrolls were found in and the water running over the surface symbolizes the purification rituals that the Essenes would perform.
They love their symbolism.
And of all the places in Israel, this is the one place that was truly off-limits to cameras. They were pretty rabid about it.
But to see these EXTREMELY famous documents in person. I’ve studied them when I had my stay at the University of Georgia a few years ago… we studied the implications of the find and other such things… but now I’ve actually been to Qumran where they were found AND seen the scrolls within the same week.
Pretty cool for a nerd like me…
Ever wanted to see what Jerusalem of the first century looked like? What about the famous 2nd Temple?
Well, now you can!
In miniature! See!?
Remember back in the day… Micro Machines? I really wanted to play with Micro Machines. It was the perfect size. The scale was approximately 1inch = 1yard. Mighty cool…
Seeing it zoomed in through the camera looked even more cool! Almost like what it would look like if it was real… the angle from the nearby hill, at least.
Anyways… from the mind of a guy with an avid imagination.
Not far away was the church built on the site of the birth of John the Baptist. Really the church wasn’t all that extraordinary, but the Benediction in a few dozen languages was really cool…
…the courtyard was lined with these things. Even really super-random languages like Shri-Lankan or some mess like that… And seeing the tonal languages of Africa and things like that was crazy – they’re barely even written!
The monk kept us locked in the compound until we were all gathered together and ready to leave… that was kinda creepy. I prefer my freedom…
…and the Market was freedom. I think I could spend an entire day there. It was the ultimate haven of street photography. It was a beautiful example of a culture that sticks to its history of a common, open market in the center of town.
If you ever wanted to see what it is like to live in the time of the ancient agora where people don’t only come to find their food for the day…
…we got ours for 50 Israeli shekel per kilo…
They also find good conversation…
…I loved that one in B&W.
Looks like they make business deals…
…get close, my friend.
Hear a little good music…
…some of the guys would bring a little battery-powered amp and play a drum track in the background of their music. Makes a pretty cool jam…
Need a yarmulke?
They had it all…
And if you wanted a desert…
…you can have it by the kilo! Why? Because that’s how you pay for it… literally can’t have just one.
And the nut man – do you have any idea how huge 1 kilo of peanuts are?
And whatever this is…
Moments before the tower falls…
…I stepped to my right just as all these empty boxes came tumbling down. He was doing fine until one of his rivals hit his tower with a small apple sending him off his balance.
“Is the rivalry that fierce?” you ask.
Strawberries…
..vs…
…bananas.
Directly across from one another screaming at the top of their lungs.
In the States we just mix them together…
…but in the States you won’t see people shopping with their automatic weapons…
…at the local supermarket.
But, of course, we are far from the States.
I think it is so ridiculous when I hear people say, “Well, in the States we do it this other way.” Come on, man, you’re in Israel! If any of you reading this ever have the opportunity to travel abroad, just realize one very important fact:
When you are traveling abroad… you are traveling ABROAD!
You may not get the softest bed. Your air conditioner may not blow cold air. You may have to go a few days eating food that tastes EXACTLY like the previous day. In fact, you might ACTUALLY have to walk instead of drive… holy cow, Batman!
You might even have to eat random local-grown fruit as an entire meal.
But isn’t that part of the experience? Is that not the whole reason for going in the first place? If things were “like they are back in the States” why would you even go abroad?
“To see how the people of a culture live, visit their market,” said Avner, “It is why we are here. Look closely and you will be able to see almost ever aspect of Jerusalem.”
Get close to the people…
…and show the world. Tell their story. They are only here a little while. Any of us… only a little while…
…for the tiny fraction of a second that it took to capture these people on film, that was the last fraction of a second they will ever be in that exact location at that time. I’ll never know their names or what happened to them before or after these photos were taken, but now I will never have the opportunity to forget them.
As long as a photo exists, their legacy endures… even long long long after they’re gone… these photos are proof that they existed at the moment of capture.
And because they existed – because they were human – they have a story and that means it deserves to be told.
Stay with me, my friends…
…there are still stories left to be told.
~Noah D