Finding the Grey

Eurasianet is running a multimedia piece I put together about demining efforts in Nagorno-Karabakh.

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/61517

Thank you to Roly Clark of Halo Trust who gave me great access to this important story.

Thanks for looking.

Jonathan

Some images from my time in Armenia in March/April. I’ll spare you my summary of the country because in fairness I didn’t see nearly as much as I wanted to— I was distracted by all the solid friends I made while I was there— and my past country summaries left me feeling a bit arrogant.

I’ll just say that the rawness of Armenia and the surprises you encounter are worth a visit. I said “Are you kidding me?” quite a few times:

Another church? Are you kidding me?

Are you kidding me? These guys are professionals at washing Mercedes.

A burrito shack, with good burritos, in the heart of Yerevan? Are you kidding me?

There are scorpions in this house? Are you kidding me?

27 people in a Marshutka? OK.

Oh man…I want to go back now! Damn!

Thanks for looking.

Jonathan

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Eurasianet ran a photostory I did on the mountain village of Xinaliq in Azerbaijan. Such a special place for me.

Check it out here: http://www.eurasianet.org/node/61168

Thanks for looking.

Jonathan

Reliable.

Thanks for looking.

Jonathan

A couple of people let me know that there are some issues with commenting and emails from/to this blog. Ill get management on it right away. Management is currently located in a region with “slow” internet speeds…”slow” as  in bureaucratic/post-Soviet/visa/extension/request “slow”.

Thanks for your patience.

Jonathan

Going on 6 days without a shower and came across this guy and his shop in Quba…

…soviet clippers are surprisingly efficient…

…feeling a few kilos lighter and infinitely cleaner.

More to come from Azerbaijan soon.

Thanks for looking,

Jonathan

To commemorate the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha (“Kurban Bayramı” in Turkish) or “Festival of Sacrifice”, Muslims from the neighborhood of Kasımpaşa in Istanbul gathered at Sururi Mehment Efendi Mosque for the sacrifice of hundreds of animals on Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. On Eid al-Adha, Muslims recognize the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God, through prayer and the sacrificing of an animal.

Witnessing slaughter, in any form, inherently involves a few challenges. Watching a healthy breathing living animal being transformed into vacant death and blood in a matter of seconds can be a taxing emotional event for many people(including me who has some experience with this). It’s not easy to watch or be around. For me, sometimes, I just have to walk away and gather myself. Photographing slaughter brings additional challenges. There is emotion from both the people and animals that you must focus on. There are people suspicious of your motives. The closer you physically get to the animals, the more you feel for them. The whole experience is not pleasant and there is a definite weight lifted from your shoulders when you remove yourself from the situation.

That being said, there are elements of this tradition that I have to respect. A large portion of the community participates in this ritual, from children to grandparents, from slaughtering to dismemberment, many people are involved. At one point I counted over 160 people working at the mosque to get this “job” done. Compare this to the annual guilt-free trip to the freezer aisle, a few days before America’s favorite Thursday in November. The task of slaughtering an animal gets distributed to thousands of Muslims around the world on this day in full view of the community. Again, compare that to the industrialization of animal slaughter in much of the world today: millions slaughtered, by so few hands, behind closed doors. Does this lead to more animal rights or vegetarians in this part of the world? I am not sure about this and not sure it’s really the point. The point that I’m trying to make is that people involved in this tradition might have more information at their fingertips on what it takes to take an animal’s life. In addition, they attempt to honor the life of the each animal through a prayer before every animal is sacrificed. On top of that, they donate 1/3 of each animal, as food, to the less fortunate in their community.

I’m not defending these acts or rituals. Hell, I don’t practice any religion and I’m not eating meat since I read this a few months back. But as disturbing as it can be to watch a sacrifice or slaughter or devout commitment to god…things I don’t relate to very much…I must acknowledge that some recognition is being made to the animals’ lives that might not be acknowledged elsewhere.

Thanks for looking.

Jonathan

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WARNING: SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING FOR SOME VIEWERS (I.E. THERE IS BLOOD)

Welcome to the new and hopefully improved ‘Finding the Grey’ blog. I made the move here to show my work in a cleaner and better format. I hope you enjoy it. I will no longer be updating my old blog and will be bringing it down shortly.

You can subscribe to this blog in the upper right hand corner of this webpage to receive email updates when I add new content.

To view photos in a post, you will now have to navigate through the photos with the arrows in the lower left corner of the photo window.

Thanks for looking. It is appreciated.

Jonathan