Young Syrian + 9 Frames, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 2018

When Customs Officials seized my film going into Cuba, I made a quick decision to salvage my summer and head to Lebanon. From Cuba I ordered the replacement film and flew back to the States immediately, then caught the plane to Lebanon with the new film!

I was so glad that I did, because the photography in Lebanon flourished. Here connections were made with further camps and countless new children. This young girl was as exquisite as any star and had the light on that afternoon to make portraits with the classic, Hollywood light!

What an experience!

Etsy 

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Table of Photographs, Madrasa, Uttar Pradesh, India, 2019

I was lucky enough to have been in India prior to the pandemic in early 2020, while the rest of the world was dealing with the emergence of COVID-19. It was a more innocent time, one in which we sat and sorted out some 900 photographs to hand out at this school. Asking the men to help was useless, as only the girls recognized themselves and their friends. The rooms behind were some of my favorite spaces for portraits, exquisite light!

Etsy 

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Best Friends + Syrians, Near Zahle, Lebanon, 2019

Normally boys create chaos due to my photography of the girls, but these boys were my allies in keeping the peace. Even though chaos ensued to some degree, I was proud of them!

Etsy 

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Syrian Child + School, Near Zahle, Lebanon, 2019

It’s amazing to see such expressions of love on my first visit to a place. One, this is a conservative community. Two, the pictures are being made by a stranger to her camp. Three, I am Lebanese while she is Syrian.

In the end all three points are irrelevant. More than Arabic as a common language, it’s the language without words that matters most. 

Here she is in front of the NGO school in her camp, expressing herself with that pose and smile!

Etsy 

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Young Student + Classroom, Shamli District, Uttar Pradesh, India, 2020

I really do miss this girl and her friends, and have the highest respect for their courage in the midst of indifference and intolerance. Their village is their world, and more exactly their home is their world. Unless they are attending school, they are almost always within the confines of their homes. School is a refuge for them, a place where they may learn and where they can be themselves among friends.

They’re fully aware of the hardships facing them and yet they persevere and endure through it all. In this classroom they could be themselves and act out their creative thoughts. It’s been an honor to be at their side all of these years.

Etsy 

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