Old Hassidic Jew, Jerusalem, Israel, 2008
Old Hassidic Jew, Jerusalem, Israel, 2008
It was on a trip over 40 years ago, while I was hitchhiking from Amsterdam to Jerusalem, that I was inspired to seriously take up photography. Seeing Hasidic Jews at the Wailing Wall with their long black coats and dangling curly locks of hair, I was fascinated to be able to witness something so ancient in the 20th century. In the 1980’s these men where very reluctant to have their pictures taken and sometimes could get quite aggressive with me telling me not to take photos and I was not a true Believer and deemed unholy to be at the Wailing Wall. I decided to revisit Jerusalem before I moved to Ireland after living in Holland for 30 years. When I went back to the Wailing Wall in 2008 I had bought a Canon G10 a point and shoot camera but good for quick shots, sharp and not intrusive. I really did not know what to expect especially from my previous encounter. Arriving at the Wall with my Canon G10 and after a few minutes, a Hasidic Jew called me over and said he had just received the same camera from some relatives in the United States of America and would I show him the basics and I said yes. Every day I arrived we spend time to help him to understand the camera and in turn unknown to myself it opened up the ease I could photograph there as the other Hasidic Jews thought we were related and with that I had no problems for the time. I was there and made some great images. It turned out He was also a Rabbi the guy I was helping with the camera.
I found the Hasidic Jews to be more open, but they were still wary of photographers. I spent 10 days in Jerusalem and at least 6/7 hours every day at the Wailing Wall. This is one of my favourite pictures as this portrait looks like it could have been made over 2000 years ago. Time hasn’t moved on for these people and never will. I took it on the underground section to the left of the Wall.
One other thing about this photo the first Photographic book I ever bought was a book about the Jews in the Warsaw Getto and photographed by Roman Vishniac's and the title was called ..... A Vanished World..... A celebrated collection of photographs taken between 1934 and 1939. Vishniac walked across Poland, the Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, and Lithuania with his camera, preserving for posterity images of a Jewish way of life fated soon to be destroyed, If you google the Title ......A Vanished World..... you will see a resemblance of the Cover and this photo. I was truly Amazed as he took his in 1937 and I in 2008.
It was on a trip over 40 years ago, while I was hitchhiking from Amsterdam to Jerusalem, that I was inspired to seriously take up photography. Seeing Hasidic Jews at the Wailing Wall with their long black coats and dangling curly locks of hair, I was fascinated to be able to witness something so ancient in the 20th century. In the 1980’s these men where very reluctant to have their pictures taken and sometimes could get quite aggressive with me telling me not to take photos and I was not a true Believer and deemed unholy to be at the Wailing Wall. I decided to revisit Jerusalem before I moved to Ireland after living in Holland for 30 years. When I went back to the Wailing Wall in 2008 I had bought a Canon G10 a point and shoot camera but good for quick shots, sharp and not intrusive. I really did not know what to expect especially from my previous encounter. Arriving at the Wall with my Canon G10 and after a few minutes, a Hasidic Jew called me over and said he had just received the same camera from some relatives in the United States of America and would I show him the basics and I said yes. Every day I arrived we spend time to help him to understand the camera and in turn unknown to myself it opened up the ease I could photograph there as the other Hasidic Jews thought we were related and with that I had no problems for the time. I was there and made some great images. It turned out He was also a Rabbi the guy I was helping with the camera.
I found the Hasidic Jews to be more open, but they were still wary of photographers. I spent 10 days in Jerusalem and at least 6/7 hours every day at the Wailing Wall. This is one of my favourite pictures as this portrait looks like it could have been made over 2000 years ago. Time hasn’t moved on for these people and never will. I took it on the underground section to the left of the Wall.
One other thing about this photo the first Photographic book I ever bought was a book about the Jews in the Warsaw Getto and photographed by Roman Vishniac's and the title was called ..... A Vanished World..... A celebrated collection of photographs taken between 1934 and 1939. Vishniac walked across Poland, the Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, and Lithuania with his camera, preserving for posterity images of a Jewish way of life fated soon to be destroyed, If you google the Title ......A Vanished World..... you will see a resemblance of the Cover and this photo. I was truly Amazed as he took his in 1937 and I in 2008.
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Also in: The Story behind the Photograph
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