I spend quite a bit of time inside the photo management software, Lightroom, sorting through tens of thousands of images, organizing them, tagging, uploading, editing, you name it, and I often I find my self coming across an image that seems to really catch my attention for whatever reason.

When editing in the field and under deadline to get your images filed before the next day, I tend to be so focused on the handful of images that best describes the context of the assignment that I often overlook a lot of images - then the next day repeats itself and that cycle continues. Sometimes it takes months or longer before I ever go over the non-published images with a fine tooth comb. But when I do, I’m often surprised.  Sometimes its a subtle variation on a series that I’ve just never noticed, sometimes it’s an interesting image but doesn’t really have a publishable context, sometimes the image is pretty good, sometimes it’s not, but nonetheless, it’s caught my attention the second time around and what better place to show it than here.

Week One: Damascus, Syria

While working in northern Syria in route back to Jordan I was able to stay in Damascus for a few days. Damascus claims to be the oldest inhabited city in the world (It’s pretty old for sure, but I think Aleppo, Syria is the oldest) and I spent my time walking in the largest covered market in the Middle East. Syria is known for it’s pistachios but probably better known for it’s pistachio ice cream. I took this photo looking through the window of a completely packed creamery in the market.

Why it caught my attention - When my family saw the image, they all said, “That is Syria?” Syria is NOTHING like how we in the West might imagine it. I think this image helps contribute to paint a more accurate picture of that amazing country.

Why it works - This image achieves the “fly-on-the-wall” effect. What separates someones travel snapshot with an actual publishable travel photo is often this effect. It makes it seem as if you are getting an intimate glimpse into a world. If someone were to look at the photographer in the image, it would have a different effect and often is very distracting. I waited patiently at the window until anyone that was looking my way lost interest and then began shooting.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Photojournalism, The Archive, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.