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  • This is the small chapel adjacent to the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion. It is said to house the Ark of the Covenant and therefore The Ten Commandments inside. Of course, only a ‘guardian’ is allowed access beyond the fencing immediately surrounding the chapel. I, as a foreigner was only allowed to get as close as this photograph indicates. That was plenty close for me as it allowed me to shoot not only the chapel, but the revelers in front of it all bathed in beautiful golden hour light. Besides, who wants to risk getting their face melted off like a Nazi in Raiders of the lost Ark? The Legend is that Menelik, the son of King Solomon and a beautiful African Queen from Axum named Makeda (Queen of Sheba), brought it back to his homeland of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
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  • Unlike hijabs (head and/or neck scarves worn by muslim women) in Middle-Eastern countries, the women in this tiny muslim enclave in Ethiopia wear vibrant colors just like their non-muslim counterparts across the continent.
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  • I made this photograph on the side of the road during a brief stop on the long and winding road to Axum.
    20141004-Ethiopia-Aksum-35.jpg
  • A young man walking to one of Harar’s 82 mosques, no doubt, passes through the Jugol Wall via Buda Gate.
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  • ... Finally, they stopped and grazed on a steep hillside leading down to the rim of the immense green gorge. Thinking it was my last best chance, I crept closer as slowly as I could. Every 4 or 5 paces, the gelatos would simply get up and move equal distance, sit back down and start grazing again. Just as I was developing my theory that gelatas (Bleeding Heart Baboons) seem to have developed a sense of exactly the perfect range from a 70-200mm lens so as to continually entice hope, yet never give you the money shot, this local girl saved my morning session. She caught my eye frolicking through a patch of wildflowers that recently blanketed the hillsides like a patchwork blanket of green and gold with purple highlights that had simple been tossed over a lumpy old sofa.<br />
At first, I was shocked at her apparent immunity to the grandeur of the scene. I guess it’s human nature to place value on things we see as rare or fleeting and take for granted. To this day, she serves as a reminder to me to always treat life like wildflowers, rare and fleeting!
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  • While I was exploring and photographing the castle and church ruins in the old quarter of Gondar, I crashed this wedding party. Not only did they not mind, they asked for copies via e-mail.
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  • Two things in this scene really grabbed my attention and inspired me to make this photograph. Comment below what you think they were.
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  • “wildflowers recently blanketed the hillsides like a patchwork blanket of green and gold with purple highlights that had simple been tossed over a lumpy old sofa.”
    20141006-Ethiopia-SimienMountains-12.tif
  • Pilgrims from all across Ethiopia trickle here to worship at Ethiopia’s holiest church, Church of St. Mary of Zion in Axum. It claims to house the actual Ark of The Covenant in a small chapel behind it.
    20141004-Ethiopia-Aksum-156.jpg
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  • Mikael Cemetery is just outside of town on an adjacent hillside and below the Christian church of the same name. Ironically, unlike the ancient town it serves, the cemetery has no walls or gates. Therefore, you can expect locals to be not only paying their respects, but also grazing their cattle. <br />
On the hillside in the background you can the ancient walled city of Harar, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2006.
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  • Ras Makonnen was Emperor Menelik's cousin and was appointed first ruler of Harar after the emperor's occupation of the city. Ras Makonnen was also the father of the Emperor Haile Selassie.
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  • This gentleman is the orthodox high priest of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. Upon finishing an outdoor mass he approached me and asked if I wanted to go inside to see crypts of Haile Selassie a.k.a. Ras Tafari and his wife which are kept inside, adjacent to the vestibule. He must have thought I was with Nat Geo or something as apparently they usually charge a ‘museum’ fee for that. I’m sure it’s intended to not only, well, raise money for the church, but also as a means to restrict the crowds and prevent the church from becoming a scene like that at Mao Zedong’s mausoleum. At any rate, I took him up on the offer and moments later found myself standing over the auxumite granite tombs of Emperor Haile Salassie (The Holy One), his wife Empress Menen Asfaw and other family members. I took in the significance of the moment. Not so much out of respect for his status as a leader, but more so from being the huge fan of reggae music that I am. I mean I’ve been hearing about this guy from Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, Toots and all of my other favorite rasta’s my whole life! The least I could do is bow my head for the inspiration he gave those fellas, right? <br />
As he was escorting me out, I thanked him quietly yet profusely and asked him if I could make a portrait to remember him by to which he gave an approving nod. I and I left that church feelin’ irie I for the rest of the day!
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  • Best known of Lalibela’s rock hewn churches, Church of St. George is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has often been called the Eighth Wonder of the World. I feel like there’s probably 100 “Eighth Wonders of the World” but this church definitely qualifies. It was carved downward through the hard volcanic tuff before chiseling out the inside. It’s such a mind-numbing feat, the locals claim all eleven of Lalibela’s rock-hewn churches were carved by angels at night while the real workers were sleeping. Whether people 800-years-ago carved out this church with rudimentary tools or they had the power to summon angels to do the work, either way it’s a miraculous achievement.
    20141009-Ethiopia-Lalibela-123.tif
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  • “The gelada, sometimes called a ‘bleeding heart baboon’, is a species of Old World monkey found only in the Ethiopian Highlands, living at elevations of 1,800–4,400 m above sea level.” -Wikepidia<br />
Apparently they like to keep a 300mm lens distance away from humans.
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  • I saw this girl sitting on the giant roots of this old tree and how her bright yellow hijab leaped out of the background. What’s more, it was the perfect complimentary color to the traditional green stove along the wall behind her. After some initial reluctance, she finally decided to let me make a portrait of her and her favorite place.
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  • This is the ‘Ge Gar’ (Reception Room) of a traditional Harari House I stayed in for a week. The ‘nadaba’ (raised platforms for sitting) have five different levels and is traditionally hierarchal. As a guest, the family granted me access to all levels save the highest one.
    20141002-Ethiopia-Harar-2.jpg
  • Outside the walls of Harar Jugol (old town), where modernity exists, motorized rickshaws or ‘tuk-tuks’ are the funnest and most convenient mode of transportation.
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  • The Meskel Festival is Ethiopia's grandest. It celebrates the day Empress Helena (St. Helena) is meant to have found the true cross. In Addis' tens of thousands pack Meskel Square to witness the burning of the "Demera", a giant bonfire meant to represent the one that Helena had made in her quest to find the cross, watch fireworks and burn their own cross-shaped candles throughout the night.
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  • As I was about to get into a taxi to the airport, I came across this adorable, giggling child. This was the last frame I took in Harar.
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  • A couple of pilgrims taking a break on their way down from Debre Damo Monastery in Aksum
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  • A family of goats taking a break on the cool, raised concrete outside a shop that was closed for lunch.
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  • A local woman glides down one of many ancient, colorful , cobblestone alleyways of Harar. <br />
*Recently, this photograph was one of three winning AWIF images in the International Travel Photography Awards Third Collection.
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  • One thing that never ceases to amaze me when I am working in the developing world is people’s propensity for making due with what they have by finding multiple uses for simple, everyday objects. This girl in the ancient walled city of Harar, Ethiopia whimsically and I must say beautifully illustrated that for me with her use of an old pot lid as a hat.
    20140930-Ethiopia-Harar-113.tif
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  • This image of a Lammergeier in flight was an interesting challenge. Luckily, I was able to shoot it from my rooms balcony as this massive bird kept swooping by as though he was giving me multiple takes. Hey was actually riding the thermals provided by the steep cliffs of Lalibela looking for carrion. This brand of vulture is unique however, in that it’s not looking for meat so much as bone. You see Lammergeier have learned to carry the bones to great heights before dropping them onto areas of exposed, flat rock, thus cracking open the bone and granting access to its  delectable marrow.
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