Ethiopian coffee is traditionally twice-boiled in a traditional coffee pot called ጀበና jabana. The resulting beverage is thick and dark and bitter, and is served with a large helping of sugar to bring up the sweetness to balance the intense flavour created by this method.
As we were driving along the China Road (between Bahir Dar and Woldia), we passed a spring and then turned to find this juxtaposition of farmed land, homes, and peaks in clouds. It was a welcome respite from the first part of the drive, which had been relentlessly clear and sunny.
The Evangelist portrait at the beginning of the Gospel of John, in the famous Kebran 1 Gospels, a notable example of manuscript arts held on the isle of Kebran in Lake Tana.
Christ with a golden-crossed halo receiving the Holy Spirit during Baptism. The Kebran 1 Gospels are one of only a few Ethiopian manuscripts known to use gold, and interested me for this reason and for the excellent depictions of scribes in the Evangelist portraits.
A view off the edge of the escarpment, along the road from Tenta to Gashena, Wollo Province, Ethiopia.
A farmstead in the rural village of Zigroa, outside of Mekane Eyesus (Iste) in South Gonder. The crop in the front is tef, the national staple crop of the highlands, with maize in the background. Eucaluptus, an introduced species, is the most common type of tree seen in Ethiopia, where it is used as a building supply, for firewood, shade and windbreaks.
Various colours of maize are on display in the market at Mekane Eyesus (Iste) in South Gonder.
The golden cross on the roof of Hayq Estifanos (The Church of St. Stephen at Hayq). Hayq Estifanos is a monastic community on a peninsula in Lake Hayq (Lake Lake) in the Wollo area of Ethiopia. It was an important early site of monasticism South of Tigray and today is a pleasant place birds sing and monks grow crops.
Recently, I had the good fortune to photograph Jackie and Ben’s wedding. We had fun taking formals in front of Osgoode Hall, before heading to a great Toronto institution–the chip truck, for their first meal as a married couple. Here’s the first instalment.
Signing the marriage contract. . .
Kissing in front of a beautiful rosebush in the gardens of Osgoode Hall. . .
Walking hand in hand. . .
Ben groaned when I motioned toward the pillars, anticipating that I wanted to take a peekaboo shot. I hope the result changed his mind. . .
A cat looks out into the streets of the Jubol, the old city of Harar, to see what I am doing in its territory.