Thursday, December 30, 2010

Blue Skies over Tabgha



Blue skies, and a teasing glimpse of an olive branch, over the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes at Tabgha.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful new year.

Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies from around the world.

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If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.
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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Who Me?


I'm not sure whether you'd call what this resident of the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo is sitting in a door or a window but his expression as he was doing it cracked me up. (And since I know you're going to ask, no, this Black-Gold Howler Monkey is neither in the Bible nor native to this area - he's native to the rainforests of central South America. The "Biblical" section of the Zoo is just one exhibit, the rest has animals from all over the world.)

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My photography is now available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!
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If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.
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Monday, December 27, 2010

Fish at the Church of the Multiplication



Isn't this a lovely and fitting way to mark the location of the miracle of the loaves and the fishes? This little fishpond stands in the courtyard of the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes in Tabgha on the shores of the beautiful Sea of Galilee, right underneath a knarled old olive tree (click the link above for a glimpse of the tree in the courtyard).

And of course, the fish are red.

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Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas

Best wishes for a very merry Christmas
to all who are celebrating.

(There should have been a photo of some sort here but we took advantage of a gorgeous day to head for the Jerusalem Zoo, ended up out to dinner afterwards, and then I promptly fell asleep on (the old version of) Alice in Wonderland during Family Movie Night. Oops. Better luck next year. I'd guess all those celebrating are going to be too busy to see this anyway.)

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Arch and Olive


The knarled old olive tree you see through this arched window stands in the courtyard of the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes in Tabgha, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

Inside the Church is a large rock, venerated since ancient times, that is believed to be the one upon which Jesus placed the bread and the fish when he fed the 5,000.

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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Yellow Bougainvillea

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Visit Wordless Wednesday to see what else people aren't saying this week.

Happy holidays to one and all.

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Monday, December 20, 2010

Ancient Mosaic - Tabgha


Detail of the mosaic floor of a Byzantine-era church at Tabgha, site of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes. Amazingly, this mosaic lay hidden for 1,300 years until the ruins of the church were excavated. The colors are as fresh and vibrant today as they were then.

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Sunday, December 19, 2010

Capernaum's White Synagogue


Capernaum's starkly beautiful White Synagogue, today in ruins, was built of imported white limestone rather than the local black basalt, giving it a dramatic appearance that has lasted through to this day. The ruins include tall columns, marble steps, and symbols of many types. The synagogue was built in the 3rd or 4th century AD on the site of an earlier synagogue believed to be the one where Jesus taught.

Capernaum is known as the home of Peter and several more of Jesus' original disciples, and is the place where he began to gather them around him, saying "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Visit my etsy shop for another view of the White Synagogue (available as a straight print or a Photoverse print).
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Thursday, December 16, 2010

Winter Skies over the Galilee

Winter storms finally arrived in Israel last weekend, and not a moment too soon for this parched land. This shot was taken last Saturday morning, just an hour or two before the storm blew in. I was standing on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, looking back toward the hills. If you look at the angle of the reeds you can get an idea how strongly the wind was blowing, and this was just a precursor for the main event where heavy rains combined with a sandstorm to literally rain mud from the sky. (It was quite dramatic, actually, not something I'd be keen to repeat too often. We don't seem to do anything by halves in this little country of ours...)



Click here to see this image as a customizable Photoverse print.
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Bougainvillea against a Galilee Sky

I finally got a bougainvillea shot that I'm happy with. It's nearly impossible to make an image that really captures that elusive almost magical quality you get when Israeli sunlight hits the petals and makes them glow and shimmer against the sky.

This shot comes close.


I'm nearing the end of my big work project (or I would be if they didn't keep moving the flippin' goalposts, it's like chasing Brigadoon) so regular blogging shouldn't be too far away. Good thing too, because my photosafari of the Christian holy sites last Friday yielded some very special images that I can't wait to share with you!

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Friday, December 10, 2010

Farewell to Hannukah 2010


This Hannukah was one to remember, that's for sure. Sadly the bad outweighed the good, but in the spirit of moving on I'd like to share this:


Isn't he sweet? This tiny fellow lives at Beit HaIkar (Farmer's House), a living farm type place at Kibbutz Beerot Yitzhak, not too far from where I live, close enough in fact to pop over with the kids this morning when our other plans fell through. This guy was born literally five minutes before this photo was taken. Five minutes earlier and we'd actually have seen the birth. Amazing, isn't it? (Excuse the slightly blurry quality of this photo - I have sharper ones but they show, err, evidence, that the birth isn't quite finished yet and my 9 year old swears that anyone who sees them will be scarred for life. He was more ewww gross than wow miracle of life. Such a 9 year old...)
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Have a wonderful weekend everyone - I know I certainly will - I'm off to the Jacob's Ladder Winter Weekend bright and early tomorrow morning! Even more fun, I'm going on my own, Jay and the kids gave me a ticket as a gift. I can't tell you how excited I am, what fun to be able to see (and of course hear) as much music as I like without anyone under 5 feet tall with a familial claim on my attention (I used to say under 4 feet tall but the dang kid keeps growing LOL) needing anything from me or complaining that they're bored and want to go outside! Still better, I'm heading up there a few hours early for a bit of a photo-safari with a few friends, should the weather gods oblige. I've got my eye on a number of potential Photoverse location shoots and boy can I use a mental break, these past few weeks have been one long Calgon take me away moment.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Slowly moving on

The fire is finally out. Israel is burying its dead and beginning the hard work of rebuilding, both physically and emotionally, that comes with the day after.

After days glued to the television, the internet, the radio, Facebook, Twitter, anything and everything, I finally feel able to again turn to photography for solace, looking for beauty to replace the horrors seared into my consciousness.

I turned to the same simple flower that brought comfort to me once before and let it wash over me and fill my inner eye with yellows that were not flames, reds that don't burn. I'm one of the lucky ones. I don't live on the Carmel, a place that just a few days ago was one of the greenest, loveliest, most magical places in the country. A place I visited just a few weeks ago to drink in it's soothing green mountains and crisp clean air. A place where many families still make olive oil the way they have for untold generations. Today that village is bearing the hurt of an unspeakable burden, today those hills are blackened and dead, the gravesite of 42 souls lost to the flames, countless homes burned, and 5 million trees lost.

Someday though, the hills will begin to live again, and bring joy, tempered with sad remembrance, to all those who see them.

For now, there is this. This small piece of beauty. May it put a smile on the face of those who see it and wipe away a little of the horror of the past days.



Saturday, December 4, 2010

Devastation

Northern Israel is still in the throes of the worst forest fire in our history. 41 people are dead, most of them prison service trainees heading in to evacuate a nearby prison who were burned to death when their bus was trapped by the fast moving fire. Over 12,000 acres of forests - 5.5 million trees - and several villages have burned and it isn't over yet. It is December already and yet the winter rains haven't yet arrived, unseasonably hot temperatures, hot dry winds, and no rain since last spring has turned the entire region into a giant tinderbox, and this is the tragic result.

The only bright spot, if you have to find one, is the way the international community has answered our desperate call for help, sending firefighting aircraft, fire retardants, and hundreds of firefighters of their own to stand hand in hand with ours to together beat this monster back.

Israelis, and I suspect most others, have always been better at banding together and supporting each other in a crisis than they are at actually getting along each day. If only we could all remember that feeling of love and trust in our fellow man and carry it forward long after the flames have been extinguished - that would be a legacy fit for those who paid the ultimate price and laid down their lives trying to save others.

Normally on the fourth night of Hannukah I would be busy photographing burning menorahs as the Hannukah lights twinkled on my table.

Somehow this year I just don't feel like it.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Psst! Like my photography? Check out this great giveaway!

Click over to Genny's wonderful blog My Cup 2 Yours for a chance to win one of my custom Photoverse prints - and just in time for the holidays too!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Jaffa Ironwork

A very happy Hannukah to all who are celebrating tonight. Our menorahs are ready and waiting, and our kids are not letting schoolwork (Itai) or a low-grade fever (Maya) get in the way of their anticipation.


I assume this decorative grating graced a doorway or window before it was installed in front of this bare cement wall as a purely decorative element. The beauty of Jaffa is often in these little unexpected touches though, you can never be quite sure what you'll see at the other end of your camera's lens.

More windows and doors can be found here.

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