Issam Nassar Response: Photographing The "Real" Jerusalem

Issam Nassar discussed an element of Jerusalem I had never really thought about. Photographers are paid to photograph a certain subject or place. At the end of the day, they are attempting to sell their work as best they can, as it is their livelihood. Jerusalem's image in the late 1800's was entirely based upon photographs... ones that did not include people? Reading that seems bizarre. After having been to Jerusalem it is silly to imagine the Old City without hundreds of people pushing and shoving in the background. The idea that people believed Jerusalem was a biblical city frozen in time is astounding. It shows that people buying art at that were interested in owning foreign or biblical pieces and were not concerned about the accuracy of what the images were representing. It's seems strange that people assumed that Jerusalem never progressed from the biblical times the photos "represented", but it must have been a nice/comforting idea that the places one can read about in the bible, actually existed and look the same way they did in the stories. It seemed like photographers were in on a big scheme in order to depict Jerusalem as a dead city that remained unchanged. It was unfair and it must have held Jerusalem back from progressing into modern times. Another question remains: Did people really care to know what Jerusalem actually looked like or were they too infatuated with the idea and representation of biblical Jerusalem?

It is incredible that the modern perception of Jerusalem is based off of a photographic tradition dating back more than 150 years. Jerusalem is so much more than just the city of the Bible. It's a living thing that changes and transforms just like any other city. After reading this article I went through and looked at some of my photos of Jerusalem and I can say that I am guilty of trying to portray the ancient side of Jerusalem. Of course, I am not a professional and couldn't tell everyone to get off the street because I, Rachel Sherman, was taking a photo of __insert holy site here____.