In a matter of weeks, our lives have changed permanently. Coronavirus will come and go, taking some of us in its deadly path. The vast majority will eventually return to a life of normality but the scars and lessons will forever remain with all of us living through this time. Surrounded by great difficulty and insecurity and confined to our four walls, we are looking inward. Amidst the hardship we are finding comfort and meaning in the simplest pleasures as our appreciation for the previously mundane comes into sharp focus. We live in a caring community, whose social structures are relatively secure. Thanks to our incredible medical personnel we have robust health care as opposed to a vast swathe of humanity who are left helplessly, to their own fate. There are hundreds of millions who’s food supply has come to a sudden halt and so many have lost their sources of income so that a steaming bowl of soup is a king’s feast. Separated from our loved ones, we think about previous generations before who at times like this would be completely cut off from family, not for minutes, rather for months or even years.
We photographers whose interests include the great outdoors always look forward to the emergence of spring. The country blossoms revealing the boundless facets of our diverse landscape, from miniscule detail to grand, sprawling landscapes. Of course, like almost all aspects of our newly imposed way of life, the coronavirus curfew has deprived us of this joy we have until now, blissfully taken for granted.
Introspecting with my eyes, here are images from around my home I overlooked before.
I feel blessed!
Richard Shavei-Tzion’s photographic images have been displayed in solo and group exhibitions over the past five years. A writer of articles of human interest, he is the author of “Poetry in the Parasha” and the “Prayer for the Preservation of the Environment” and has been the director of the Ramatayim Men’s Choir for the past 25 years. He lives in Jerusalem with his ever-supportive wife, Cheryl