Jehad Nga: Ethiopia's Stone Churches

Continuing on the theme of Ethiopia as an incredible destination for travel photographers, here's a slideshow of Jehad Nga's work in Lalibela, and recently published in the New York Times. These were photographed during the Feast of Transfiguration, which occurs in early August in the Orthodox Christian calendar.

Jehad is a Corbis photographer, and you'll see that his images are often made in the dark, only a single source of light highlighting the individuals themselves. As an example, see the image of deacons during the church sermon at Beta Medeanlam which is lit by candles. How he manages that so effectively is a testament to his creativity and talent. Over the past four years, Jehad Nga's assignments have found him covering stories in Somalia, Kenya, Iraq, Liberia, Libya, Darfur, Ethiopia and Iran.

A bit of background on these images from the NY Times' Joshua Hammer: "I had arrived in Lalibela, fortuitously, just before the Feast of the Transfiguration that commemorates Jesus’ appearance in divine form before three of his apostles on Mount Tabor. Within a few minutes, my guide had whisked me to the grandest of King Lalibela’s 11 monolithic churches, chiseled out of a single mass of reddish limestone by royal craftsmen at the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th centuries."

Ethiopia: Timket Festival In Lalibela

I witnessed the festival of Timket in northern Ethiopia in 2004, and consider it (along with the Kumbh Mela) to be one of the most photogenically and culturally interesting religious festivals I've ever photographed. Timket is the most important festival in the Ethiopian calendar, with festivities beginning in the 3rd week of January, the day before Epiphany which, according to the Julien calendar, falls on the 19th of January.

Timket is celebrated all over Ethiopia, but it's particularly spectacular in Lalibela, a Biblical mountain town famous for its 11 churches hewn out of solid rock over a thousand years ago. Many Ethiopians believe they were built by angels. A word of caution: Lalibela is one of the world's dustiest places, and is a haven for flies...other than that, it's a wonderful place! The early dawn prayers in Lalibela are just ethereal in quality and are attended by enormous crowds of devout Ethiopians.

Due to its recent military involvement in Somalia, Ethiopia's current political situation is questionable, so caution is advised.

In the meantime, here are some recent images by Karoki Lewis, a talented photographer, which appeared today on the BBC website: BBC's Timket Festival Images