"He is Risen"
Easter is the holiest day of the year in the Orthodox Church. The Liturgy begins near midnight on Holy Saturday and lasts for several hours. I had planned to photograph the candlelight procession at a ancient church near my hotel, but a pouring rain stopped me from attending. The rain didn’t stop the faithful. Here a parishioner sweeps the rainwater from the steps of the church. She laughed when someone pointed out that I was taking her photo. “Why?” she asked. “Because you are beautiful”, I replied. And she was, with her olive skin, huge dark eyes and benevolent expression.
"Look! She's taking our picture!"
I was staying in a lovely hotel, but had nothing to read and only boring old CNN to watch in English. That’ll make you get out and photograph in the rain! I was shooting lots of lovely old soot etched buildings when I came across these two gypsy boys. The little one was delighted to have his photo taken. His older brother not so much. I assumed they were begging although they did not speak nor make any “give me” gestures. I gave them a lei…the equivalent of 30 cents. Later I felt like a cheapskate.
Standing Watch
Out of sight but nearby I noticed this young man. I realized that he was keeping watch over the two boys. At first he gestured to me not to take his photo, but then relented. Look at that face, that smile!! So handsome!
You never know what you’ll come across when you go out to shoot whether it is a strange city or a familiar one. I do enjoy the unfamilar. To me the empty rainy streets were filled with a dark and mysterious Eastern Europe atmosphere.