Yemrehanna Kristos church

 No matter how many Photography magazines I read searching for the answer, I just can’t seem to find an article on this topic! “How to take a picture of a man standing in a sea of corpses.” Well, here you go… You never know, it might come in handy one day.

I thought I’d share this photograph from Yemrehanna Kristo’s church I finally got around to editing. The monk’s name is Keas Hable Mariyam. He is the caretaker of the cavern-church and speaks very highly of his work. Here is the blurb from my Ethiopia journal to go along with it.

  Today at Yemrehanna Kristos church, I photographed a monk surrounded in corpses. He explained to me they were pilgrims, mostly from Jerusalem. There were over 10 000 skeletons at one point, but now it is hard to say since they have been decaying over the years. Whatever the debated number, I can describe it only as wading out with my camera into a sea of skeletons. I tried my best to be respectful and not go into the parts the monk warned me not to, staying on wooden boards and tombs… but every once in awhile I would hear the crunch of a bone under the pressure of my weight, or feel my hand brush against the smoothness of a human skull. The monk was very patient with me, and I feel I captured a moment in time I never thought I’d see in my life.

Let’s look closer at that image…

And another…

You can view these images bigger and the rest of the Holy Men series here.

Anyway, have a great sleep tonight!

JL