Abraham at the moment of sacrificing Isaac, as part of the 2010 Chester Plays at Victoria College, the University of Toronto, under the direction of the PLS.
Category: Photography
Photographic postings.
God, The Flood, 2010 PLS Chester Play Cycle, Toronto
God studies his lines while the wagon stage is set up,and unfurls the rainbow signaling his promise to Noah to never flood the earth again, at the end of the play of Noah’s Ark and The Flood, one of the plays of the Chester Cycle, performed in their entirety at Victoria College, the University of Toronto, under the auspices of Poculis Ludique Societas (Drinking and Gaming Society), a group devoted to medieval and early modern theatre and associated with the Centre for Drama at the U of T.
And now for something a little different. . .
I wanted to experiment a bit with a punchier, more-saturated look, and this is what came out of a shoot with Pop the cat.
Strobist info: 1 SB-28 in a shoot through umbrella camera right to fill open shade.
I wanted to experiment a bit with a punchier, more-saturated look, and this is what came out of a shoot with Pop the cat.
Strobist info: 1 SB-28 in a shoot through umbrella camera right to fill open shade.
Horse, Gonder, Ethiopia, 2009
A horse grazes on a rainy day, just outside the tamari betoch (student huts) of the famous church of Debre Berhan Selassie, in Gonder.
Arabic Writing Teacher, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 2009
A teacher of arabic writing at the mosque in Bahir Dar. Moslems are a significant minority in areas of the North, and comprise a majority in the Eastern areas of Ethiopia.
Deacon(?), Andabet, Amhara, Ethiopia, 2009
This gentleman, whose name I have sadly forgotten, was a farmer and a deacon (I believe) at the local church. When I was in the Andabet area for research, he showed my translator and me to the various farms of the priests who made parchment and scribed books.
Yänäta Zewchoas, Axum, Ethiopia, 2009
Zewchoas is one of the chief instructors at the St. Yared Theological Academy in Axum, and has a reputation as a däbtära, a magician (he is also properly a däbtära in its original sense of liturgical specialist). A dwarf, he was picked upon, and learned magic in order to gain respect, notably a method for causing people to fart in public, which is considered extraordinarily rude in Ethiopia.
Having achieved his aim, he later gave up the magician’s craft and focused more on his teaching work. He may often be found behind the school, leading students in the recitation and memorization of liturgical songs, and is a thoroughly respected member of his community, having overcome the prejudice traditionally associated with dwarfism.
He is photographed sitting on a throne on top of the stairs in front of the old Cathedral of St. Mary of Zion (Maryam Tsion).
Magical Tablet, Tigray, Ethiopia, 2009
A wooden tablet inscribed with a magical formula, when kept in a household, it is supposed to bring wealth into the household.
“Talismanic Image (Demon), Magic Scroll, Tigray, Ethiopia, 2009
An image of a demon stares out from the first panel of a magical (prayer) scroll. The image of the demon has inherent magical significance, but it also is meant to show attacking demons their own visage, and thus to scare them. A useful introduction is Jacques Mercier’s ‘Ethiopian Magic Scrolls,’ which presents a variety of images with commentary.
Cat, Zege Peninsula, Lake Tana, Ethiopia, 2009
A cat lazes in the sun at a house in a hamlet on the Zege Peninsula.