Few hundred meters away from the Holy Sepulcher, the maze of alleys of the Old City leads to the Western Wall Plaza, the most sacred place for Judaism. I reached it by following a
haredi Jew who was making his way through the narrow streets, without ever looking to the colorful Arab shops lined up by the sides.
At one point he crossed his path with an Arab man coming up in the opposite direction, and I was glad I could make this moment stand still in a frame. Nothing at all happened between the two as they they simply ignored each other, well grounded on their own planets. I was walking quite fast behind the religious Jew, and could not really glimpse at the Arab's eyes. But I felt he looked at us, obviously he must have noticed me with my camera. But what about the man right ahead? Did the Arab man spend a half thought on him? Most probably not. After all, these are very ordinary encounters in the Old City of Jerusalem. But you never know. Walking on the very same stones, bringing along such immensely different backgrounds and cultures, might spark an entire universe of different feelings, given that the Other is seen and acknowledged as part of the context. Often, in daily life, this is not the case.
Once in the Wall Plaza, I looked for subjects out on the stage. I noticed a lady and a child who were peeping through the iron grating before the section of the Western Wall reserved to men, while a foreign tourist was relaxing under the sun, nearby. The base of the post which holds the Israeli flag was marking a divide between the two subjects at the opposite ends of the frame. Again, I guess I was attracted by the contrast of them being so close, so far away.
In the same area, I noticed a scene unfolding which could not be neglected. A young
haredi father, sitting on the ground, was preparing a simple lunch for his two children. Totally absent from what was going on around them, the family was taking a pure moment for themselves, as if they were camping in their garden at home. Indeed, that place must feel like home to them. And I was attracted by the informal and gentle manners of the father in feeding his children, still too young to be dressed according to the tradition. Also, the contrast in my eyes between two familiar-looking children and their distant-looking father invited me to stop and observe. An unexpected spot of family warmth was open there, and it was noticed by other bystanders. Probably I should have tried different angles, including a lower point of view.
Then I reached the Wall by entering the men's section, which is about four times larger than the women's one. Religious Jews,
haredi, soldiers and some tourists were all facing the white stones of the Wailing Wall. People were praying in different ways: bowing their heads and bodies, reading lines from the Torah, leaving small papers in the cracks of the Wall or simply standing. Young people were chatting, others collecting small change. The sight of weapons in a sacred place, however customary it has become in this case, could not avoid creating a feeling of semi-conscious uneasiness. I took the first picture without looking, with the camera at waist level, and that's why the soldier's boots are cropped. It was the only way I could take such a shot, and I took several others. But 50mm is probably too tight for this solution, and a wider angle would be safer.
After a couple of hours I left the Wall Plaza, and as I was going back towards Jaffa Gate I happened to meet again the family who had been eating together. They were going home, with the kids playing their last games with the handrail of the stairs. I think this composition fairly works, thanks to different subjects in motion, at different depths of field. The higher left corner though is too confused with people in the background, distracting from the face of the soldier-scholar. Exposure is f10, 1/50, 100 ISO. Since I was standing in the shadow, I think that ISO should have been higher, aperture a bit smaller (f11-14) and shutter much faster. In fact, in full size almost all subjects are slightly blurred. I need to work on this over and over again!
At one point he crossed his path with an Arab man coming up in the opposite direction, and I was glad I could make this moment stand still in a frame. Nothing at all happened between the two as they they simply ignored each other, well grounded on their own planets. I was walking quite fast behind the religious Jew, and could not really glimpse at the Arab's eyes. But I felt he looked at us, obviously he must have noticed me with my camera. But what about the man right ahead? Did the Arab man spend a half thought on him? Most probably not. After all, these are very ordinary encounters in the Old City of Jerusalem. But you never know. Walking on the very same stones, bringing along such immensely different backgrounds and cultures, might spark an entire universe of different feelings, given that the Other is seen and acknowledged as part of the context. Often, in daily life, this is not the case.
Once in the Wall Plaza, I looked for subjects out on the stage. I noticed a lady and a child who were peeping through the iron grating before the section of the Western Wall reserved to men, while a foreign tourist was relaxing under the sun, nearby. The base of the post which holds the Israeli flag was marking a divide between the two subjects at the opposite ends of the frame. Again, I guess I was attracted by the contrast of them being so close, so far away.
In the same area, I noticed a scene unfolding which could not be neglected. A young haredi father, sitting on the ground, was preparing a simple lunch for his two children. Totally absent from what was going on around them, the family was taking a pure moment for themselves, as if they were camping in their garden at home. Indeed, that place must feel like home to them. And I was attracted by the informal and gentle manners of the father in feeding his children, still too young to be dressed according to the tradition. Also, the contrast in my eyes between two familiar-looking children and their distant-looking father invited me to stop and observe. An unexpected spot of family warmth was open there, and it was noticed by other bystanders. Probably I should have tried different angles, including a lower point of view.
Then I reached the Wall by entering the men's section, which is about four times larger than the women's one. Religious Jews, haredi, soldiers and some tourists were all facing the white stones of the Wailing Wall. People were praying in different ways: bowing their heads and bodies, reading lines from the Torah, leaving small papers in the cracks of the Wall or simply standing. Young people were chatting, others collecting small change. The sight of weapons in a sacred place, however customary it has become in this case, could not avoid creating a feeling of semi-conscious uneasiness. I took the first picture without looking, with the camera at waist level, and that's why the soldier's boots are cropped. It was the only way I could take such a shot, and I took several others. But 50mm is probably too tight for this solution, and a wider angle would be safer.
After a couple of hours I left the Wall Plaza, and as I was going back towards Jaffa Gate I happened to meet again the family who had been eating together. They were going home, with the kids playing their last games with the handrail of the stairs. I think this composition fairly works, thanks to different subjects in motion, at different depths of field. The higher left corner though is too confused with people in the background, distracting from the face of the soldier-scholar. Exposure is f10, 1/50, 100 ISO. Since I was standing in the shadow, I think that ISO should have been higher, aperture a bit smaller (f11-14) and shutter much faster. In fact, in full size almost all subjects are slightly blurred. I need to work on this over and over again!
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