Young Girl + Forest, Lake Granada, Nicaragua, 2017

Spent a few days in the darkroom this past week, and looking forward to the rest of November in that sweet space printing the work from Nicaragua. Here is a young girl living on the outskirts of Lake Granada, tending land with her mother for another family.

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Note: Frame exposed with a Hasselblad 503 CW/100 mm lens combination.

Young Girl + Hand of Mother, Rama, Nicaragua, December of 2017

45 years after we lost our home to an earthquake I returned to my birthplace of Nicaragua. The experience of walking in the footsteps of my parents cannot be described fully, for my mind still needs to process the events of last December.

One thing is for sure, the people of Nicaragua treated me like a prince, like one of their own. Thanks to my cousins Victor and Carlos, it felt just like home. Their homes were my homes, their hospitality was as generous as any in my travels. Certainly this was a reflection of our culture, of their respect for my parents... but it was so much more, and I may begin to understand more so when we meet once again this December.

Then there were those we met on the road, such as this girl and her mother, on our way to the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. We never did reach the coast, but this neighborhood of Rama was as kind as we could have imagined. The people were so generous with their kindness, and allowed us to have a morning session which resulted in this portrait.

These beautiful people work hard day in and day out, and their lives are anything but easy. Their entire neighborhood was built on the outskirts of the town without planning nor distribution of basic services from the municipal government. Yet they endure and do their best for the sake of their children.

Their homes are as basic as can be, wooden walls with dirt floors. There are times when the making of a portrait makes me pause, such was this young girl's as well. I look forward to returning in December and going deeper into this family's history, as well as the relationships formed during my first visit in over 45 years.

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Note: This image was made with a Hasselblad 503 CW/100 mm C lens combination.

Our Home + Earthquake, Managua, Nicaragua, December 23, 1972

The green light to go forward came in today, and so plans are being made for the first trip to my birthplace since the week this photograph was made almost 45 years ago. The fact that we have this photograph is a miracle, for my Father was walking around buying photographs of the earthquake before we flew to Lebanon to reconstruct our lives. I hope to be able to find the exact spot of this photograph, and to make a portrait of the site of our now long-gone home.

According to Wikipedia:

The 1972 Nicaragua earthquake occurred at 12:29:44 a.m. local time (06:29:44 UTC) on December 23 near Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. It had a moment magnitude of 6.3 and a maximum MSK intensity of IX (Destructive). The epicenter was 28 kilometers northeast of the city centre and a depth of about 10 kilometers. The earthquake caused widespread casualties among Managua's residents: 4,000–11,000 were killed, 20,000 were injured and over 300,000 were left homeless.

(Photographer unknown, 12/1972)