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behold the man
In addition to seeing a lot of wall-mounted shrines in Palermo (as I mentioned yesterday) I spotted some larger ones as well, like this one on the side of Chiesa di Sant’Antonio Abate. Walking around Palermo was a visual delight – there was something interesting/new/photo-worthy at every turn. If I’d stopped to think about it, it would have been overwhelming. Instead I just kept looking, kept shooting, kept immersing myself in everything the city and its residents had to offer.
As I write this, I’ve been home for eight days; I’m still writing in my travel journal every day because so many things happened on the trip that I couldn’t get it all written down in real time. That journal started out real organized, with things documented chronologically. It quickly descended in chaos, which I tell myself will make it more interesting for future reader(s) who will be treated (if that’s the right term?) to a stream-of-consciousness telling of Important Things I Just Remembered.
Palermo, Sicily
photographed 8.31.2022
wall shrine, with flower
I got my start as a photographer by way of a long project where I documented roadside crosses and other memorials; I think all the years of being always-vigilant for those locations has permanently set my brain to seek out similar things. I don’t think I am actively looking for them, but there were numerous times in Palermo that I’d glance over at a wall and there’d be a shrine right there, as thought it had been expecting me.
Palermo, Sicily
photographed 8.29.2022
boys at play (beside World War II ruins)
As unbelievable as it seems to someone whose city was never bombed, there are still building ruins in the heart of Palermo left over from 1943, when Allied and German forces battled for control of the island. (Read more here.)
One of the ruins was very near where we stayed, and the wire fencing on the left side of the photo surrounds the rubble. But, even with war ruins that are almost eighty years old, life in the rest of the neighborhood goes on, with boys playing a made-up game as two young women strolled along. (And as a quartet of photographers watched and, possibly, made more than a few images.)
Palermo, Sicily
photographed 8.31.2022
niche with statue
What happened is that I went to Sicily.
I was fortunate to get to travel with a small group of photographers on a tour organized by Don Toothaker at Hunt’s Photo Education in conjunction with an outstanding tour operator, Allison Scola, the founder of Experience Sicily.
So many things happened while I was gone that I haven’t even really processed them yet.
I made new friends, solidified previous friendships, saw a part of the world I’d never seen before, ate delicious food. And, of course, made thousands of photos. I greatly expanded my photographic skills. I had some deeply personal experiences and revelations.
I don’t have the slightest clue on how to start presenting my experiences. I am worried that I’ll bore my reader(s) with endless photos and/or with endless narratives. I am worried that nothing I can say will convey how much I loved everything about the trip. I am worried that it’s going to sound all breathless and vapid, when in fact it was the opposite of vapid.
So I guess the best thing is to just jump right in.
Here’s a scene we discovered in Palermo one afternoon – we walked down some (very) narrow streets, and into a courtyard, and that’s where I spotted this. I don’t know what the building was or anything about what I photographed. But, to me, this is what Palermo looked like: each street a treasure, every turn enchanting, each view a surprise.
Palermo, Sicily
photographed 8.29.2022
altar
You already know that I make a lot of photos by shooting through windows without any ability to carefully compose the shots: I get what I get. Sometimes it’s awful.
And then, there are times like this, when I didn’t even know until I saw this image on my computer that the cross on the altar was lined up through the gap in the door AND was arranged perfectly against a lighter background.
I don’t think I’d’ve planned it any better.
Eastland, Texas
photographed 8.7.2022
One Day | One Image 