The turn-off to Maloula on the road from An-Nabk to Damascus, Syria (June 9, 2010) Early on the afternoon of June 9, 2010, I stood on the side of a Syrian highway and took this picture. For the previous two nights I had been staying at Deir Mar Musa, a monastery perched on a mountainside […]
Thoughts On Getting A Bit Too Thin (Deir ez-Zur, Syria)
The following was written in June 2010 from a sweltering (but fondly remembered) room at the Hotel Al-Jamia Al-Arabia in Deir ez-Zur, Syria. It has happened again: after several months on the road, walking and photographing throughout the day in the less-than-moderate Middle Eastern heat, I’ve lost weight. I’ve lost so much, in fact, that […]
Voices: Rose from Aleppo, Syria
I met Rose on June 24, 2010. It was a beautiful sunny morning in Aleppo, Syria, and I was photographing in the plaza beneath the historic citadel when a young woman entering the plaza caught my eye. She had style and confidence, and I liked the colors she was wearing. She said yes when I […]
The Benefits of Moments of Travel Misery
“There is little favorable to be said about poverty,” wrote Nelson Mandela in his book Long Walk to Freedom, “but it was often an incubator of true friendship.” I first read this line (and book) about 15 years ago, and I remember it sometimes in my moments of misery on the road. No, it’s not that […]