Girl + Hands on Belly, International Children's Day, Rajasthan, India

This image is being shared in honor of International Children's day, celebrated today in India. A young girl places her hands gently over her belly, embracing herself and our future as well.

www.halimina.org

Refugee + Fence, Uttar Pradesh, India, November of 2013

After we finished photographing the girls formally, we walked around and made some spontaneous images. The refugees in this camp had escaped ethnic violence just a few months earlier, and such could be felt through the expressions on the faces. In this image a young girl stood in front of her home, with this fragile fence as her protection. She lived without electricity, running water, education and medicine.

This is the face of those enduring the effects of violence the world over, she is the one that suffers while those with power wage campaigns to maintain their position. She will never understand what brought her to this place, what forced her family to abandon its home hundreds of miles away to live like refugees. We have a long way to go before we can hold our heads up high in her presence.

www.halimina.org

In My Country, John Mikhail Asfour, Montreal, Canada

In my Country
     The ash tree, the oak tree, and the cedar
     Grow together.
They live and stand strong before the storms,
Their branches touch and their roots join each other,
They cast their shade upon the land and receive the sun
     As the sun rises.

In my country
     The tiger, the lion, and the wolf
     Dwell in the same forest.
They hunt together, and in the night
They guard their young from strangers.
They drink from the same stream
     And roam the same valley.

In my country
     The eagle, the hawk, and the canary
     Fly and circle the sky together.
They build their nests on the same hill and in the same tree.
They sing, play, and they eat from the same field.

In my country
     It is my people,
     Only my people,
Who kill and murder each other.

Young Girl + Kanjar Community, Rajasthan, India, 2013

She is surrounded on a daily basis by the tentacles of the sex trade. She watches as men from the nearby villages walk through her village and with her sisters, aunts and cousins. She endures this reality every single day of her life, knows that the men in her village enable this trade, that her brothers, cousins and uncles do the bidding for their forced labor.

In the middle of all of this her portrait was made last year with Nirvana and his team at Nirvanavan Foundation. We guided the girls to the rooftop of the classroom and spent perhaps an hour making their portraits. This one struck my eyes immediately, and she knew it. Whatever she was wearing was secondary to me, it was her face that captured and never let go of my admiration. So I attached the close up tube to the camera and set my sights on her countenance.

Here was a girl whose eyes had seen the worst of humanity, yet shared nothing but its best with us on that rooftop. Her power overwhelmed me, and to have this portrait as a reminder of her presence means the world to me. I do hope that she is there next year and that the foundation will have the time to allow me one more visit to her village.

I also hope that the school has made further strides in this community, and that she has another path upon which to walk in the near future.

www.halimina.org

Note: This image was made with a Hasselblad 555 ELD/180 mm lens with a close-up attachment, onto Fuji Neopan Acros 100 ISO film.

Boy + Slum, Delhi, India, November of 2013

One morning in Delhi I decided to go out on my own rather than taking anyone from the foundation with me. We visited this slum the day before, and I thought doing the same on my own the next day would be a little easier. WIthout telling anyone I walked to the slum, hesitated for a minute in front of its entrance and then started walking through its narrow alleys.

Although many believe that English is spoken by a good majority of people in India, nobody in this community spoke a word of it. What seemed to work was my willingness to come alone, gaining the trust of the inhabitants. I walked to the center of the slum where a tea shop was set up, as well as a small temple. Without exaggeration, the entrances to the homes were the height of a child. Adults would have to stoop down just to pass through the entrances.

While sitting around with the men, I noticed this young boy watching from a distance. Immediately I was moved by his appearance along with his expression. With gestures I asked his father for permission to photograph him, and his father accepted kindly. Just at this moment a young man from the previous day stepped forward. He spoke a little bit of English, and was sweet enough to translate between us.

He told me that doctors had seen this boy, and advised that the skin would heal with time. The appearance was quite severe, as this peeling was evident from head to toe. Although this young boy must have been in some physical distress, he was quite brave and stood with strength for his portrait.

Back home I did a little bit of research on this condition, and realized that his skin would never heal, that he had a form of skin disorder which lacks a cure. The only relief that the medical community can offer this young boy is a lotion to ease the cracking, to provide some sense of comfort.

Since however he lives in this slum, he lacks access to such. This week his portrait will be sent to the pharmaceutical company producing the ointment so as to solicit their support. We can only hope they will be as moved, and act. 

www.halimina.org

Note: These images were made with a Hasselblad 555 ELD/180 mm lens onto Fuji Neopan Acros 100 ISO Film using natural light only.

#india   #monochromeworld   #monochromephotography  #hasselblad   #neopanacros100   #slum   #portraiture  #portraitphotographer  +Halim Ina 

Idols, John Mikhail Asfour, Land of Flowers and Guns

This poem, along with many others from "Land of Flowers and Guns," affected me deeply as a young man. The subject matter was close to me, as well as the author of the works. This is yet another reminder that John remains with us.

IDOLS

At the beginning it was Father,
For Father was a farmer, and I grew up on a farm
     Under the shade of the magnolia tree,
     Near the ever-running spring,
And I also played with the birds and animals on the farm.

     Then it was the Church, 
     For the Church was not far from my house,
And my mother made me visit it practically every Sunday.

     Later it was my Country,
For my Country has four seasons, and trees and blue skies.

     Much later it was She,
She who touched my life and body with her fingers,
     Whose eyes came to look upon me,
     And whose hair left a scent in my nostrils.

By now I have discovered that Father is a man,
     The Church has changed,
     My Country is destroyed,
     And She has cut her hair.

by John Mikhail Asfour

PS The image chosen is of a young woman living in the Bekaa Valley, a tribute to John's childhood in Lebanon. His hometown, also that of my Father, is less than one hour's drive from where she lives now. Her hair reminds me of the woman in the piece above. My hope is that she has yet to cut hers.

Elegy, John Mikhail Asfour, Cousin + Poet

This past week a shining light in our community, in my family, was dimmed for the last time. While John may have passed away, his words remain with us. This is a piece called 'Elegy.'

Write me an elegy,
Write my country an elegy,
     For my country is dead
     And I am gone.
Stab me, that I may bleed,
Shoot me, shoot all the shame, the anger and the mockery
     I live in.
Write me an elegy,
     Write of the dead.
How they die unprepared, unaware
Of the futility of their death.
Write of the women blinded with their tears,
Of the children carrying flowers to their fathers' graves,
And write of the brides who had no time to bid their lovers farewell.
And finally, write of a man
     Sitting behind his desk,
     Holding his pen,
     Staring at his notes,
     Having a debate with his god
     About the injustice of his world.
Write me an elegy,
Write my country an elegy.
     The land is full of the dead,
     There is no place to bury more.
Write me an elegy and let me perish.
Let me die next to those who have perished.
     My blood shall nourish the earth,
     My grave shall grow a tree.
I die, and my country also dies.
The mountains fall, the stars fall,
     And the sun burns off.

by John Mikhail Asfour

Some of his accomplishment are recorded in Wikipedia as follows:

John Asfour (Arabic: جون عصفور) (born in 1945 in Aitaneat, Lebanon) (died in 2014 in Montreal, Canada) was a Lebanese-Canadian poet, writer, and teacher. At the age of 13, a grenade exploded in his face injuring his eyes during the Lebanese crisis of 1958.

He moved to Canada in 1968. He is a former professor of literature residing in Montreal, Canada.

He is the author of 5 volumes of poetry in English, and two in Arabic, he has selected, edited and translated into English the landmark anthology 'When the Words Burn: An Anthology of Modern Arabic Poetry' and co-authored with Alison Burch a volume of selected poems by Muhammad al-Maghut entitled 'Joy is not my Profession.'

In 2005 and 2007, he organized and held two conferences on Arab Immigrants, their rights and duties for the Ministry of Immigration of Quebec.

Ballerina + Sky, Santa Maria del Mar, La Habana, Cuba, Summer of 2013

She is a goddess, and at her altar I bow with my camera in praise. 

Just today I received a second message from her mother in Cuba. In the first message gratitude was expressed for the photographs, for our time together and for the friendship formed this past summer between us. In my response, I described her daughter as a star which guides me at night, a star two which I look constantly for inspiration.

Her response is shared below, first in Spanish followed by the translation. The book to which she refers affected me deeply in my youth as well, and shows how two people in two different worlds can have such similar paths. To have photographed her daughter was an honor without compare, to have been given such a privilege is what takes me away to these places. I have in these people seen the true face of love. It is the love which eludes so many, yet is right there to be grasped.

"Halim, sus palabras me han conmovido y me han recordado un libro que guardo con mucho amor desde pequeña, "El Principito" escrito por Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Es un libro de amor y de amistad. Un libro que también habla de las estrellas que ríen como cascabeles porque nos recuerdan a un amigo, y así es, las distancia es burlada, cuando sentimos que el cielo es nuestro techo, el techo de todos y una estrella nos refleja el alma de un amigo. Entonces es dulce en las noches mirar al cielo…"

"Halim, your words have moved me and I recalled a book that I save with much love since little, "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It is a book of love and friendship. A book that speaks of the stars that laugh like bells because they remind us of a friend, and as such, the distance is overcome, when we feel that the sky is our roof, the roof of each and a star shows us the soul of a friend. So sweet at night looking at the sky…"

When someone wonders, "why do you visit the island every year?" I point to this image, and to the words above.

www.halimina.org

Note: This image was made with a Sony RX100M2, edited for size and contrast only.

Refugee + Shawl, Uttar Pradesh, India, November of 2013

When we arrived to the largest camp, just so happened to be our first camp last November, my brother Asrar told me to get out of the car, walk down into the camp, set my camera up and be ready to photograph the most incredible faces. With little hesitation I did as he asked, and set my gear up while dozens and dozens of people started gathering around me. 

A few minutes later he met me in the center of the camp, and asked: 'which face would you like?' I told him that I would describe the clothes of the person without pointing, and that he would slowly look their way without much notice and then ask them to come forward. We did this so as to maintain a calm atmosphere, for this community had just a few months earlier escaped incredible hardships in their hometown.

What amazed me the most was that the men allowed us to photograph the girls. They helped us actually, and supported our work for the next hour. One by one I described the colors of their fabrics, and one by one the girls stepped up to the camera. They broke many barriers in doing so, from gender to societal. In front of dozens of men and boys, they held their own for as much as five minutes in front of the lens. This affected me almost as much as the circumstances behind their present state of life.

Just as we were almost finished photographing the young girls, the older women stepped up and wanted to be photographed. This detail Asrar shared with me, thinking that perhaps I was finished for the afternoon. I responded with much enthusiasm, thinking that the women would never allow me to photograph them. I was so wrong, and happily so.

We photographed five or six women, with this portrait being one example. Their presence in front of the camera inspired me deeply, and I hoped at the time that the younger girls were watching intently. I tried to imagine these women as young girls, how their lives must have been, what they had experienced months earlier in their villages and how they are going to put the pieces back together for the sake of their families all over again just now.

In March I look forward to visiting the camps once again with Asrar, and hope that the temporary housing has been transformed to more permanent structures, that toilets have been constructed and that a school has begun for the children.

www.halimina.org

Note: This image was made with a Hasselblad 555 ELD/180 mm combination onto Fuji Neopan Acros 100 ISO film.

#india   #uttarpradesh   #sectarianconflict   #sectarianviolence  #monochromeworld   #monochromephotography   #girlrising  #girlpower   #hasselblad   #filmphotography   #portraitphotographer +Halim Ina 

Julia + Session with Patrick, Cleveland, Ohio, October 31, 2014

After two months of talk preparations, a day of pure creativity was enjoyed with an incredibly creative team headed by my cousin Patrick. Under his leadership, a group of hairstylists, makeup artist and models was organized for today and clothing gathered from a local clothing designer/shop. We used the space next to Dominic's restaurant thanks to his generosity, and spent the day creating beautiful images in line with this one of Julia.

www.halimina.org

Note: This image was made with a Sony D750 and 85mm 1.4 lens, edited for size and contrast only.