Snow In Jerusalem – from my forgotten memories. Part i.
(Zero AI – 100% human created content).
Today my memories (actually, my camera memory card) takes me to the cold January of the year 2022. It was the last time when it snowed there. This weather “phenomenon” (yes, for us, living here almost on the continent of Africa) is not a common visitor. And usually when the forecast is predicting the snowfall (or just a weak snow), the authorities just close the roads between the central part of the country and Jerusalem with the mountains around in the forests.
So, it’s literally impossible to get to the city, when this happening. I can only wait for positive news on the radio about the opening of the roads, and to stay in hope that after the roads opening, the snow is still will be available there. Due to the not too low temperature, the snow’s life is very short. It’s immediately became very wet and dirty as you can find in some images below, so, even I make my drive there in time, the real white beauty is impossible to catch on time.
After two years of the futile expectations for another cold snowy days, i decided to publish the remain images from my “adventure”. Photography is like a time machine. It’s mastering the possibility to return back in memories, in forgotten moments, feelings and expressions. Now the pictures remind me how i was cold as one who wasn’t not equipped for the cold windy weather. But the adventure was heating me, as well the understanding that soon i will finish my snowy walk and will sit with a half of beer in one of the warm (in terms of the temperature and the friendliness) local pubs.
For those who curious to see the previous posts from the 2022 and here.
Very beautiful atmospheric. on each shot. I love it all.
Thank you Naomi
It’s beautiful.
You know, everyone in your images seemed to be handling the snow so much better than the people who live here in Colorado Springs do when it snows… and it snows here multiple times a year.
Always glad to see you’re safe and well, my friend.
Hey Matt. Glad to hear from you ! thank you for the kind words. It was a very special series for me. First of all it wasn’t easy to get there that day. Another important point – this natural phenomenon is very rare here. Many kids here never saw and held the snow in their hands, some adults as well ;-). For my luck i got enough of this when i lived in Kazakhstan. Some days we had around ~50cm of snow. But here it’s still extremely exotic. Not everyone is prepared here for this temperature and especially for the snow. All the cars tires are not ready to drive on the slippery surface. Maybe the Jerusalem citizens are ready for the cold better than others ,;-)
We’re being invaded by Californians; they’re not used to driving in anything other than sunny and dry. So it’s probably similar, except your people do better than the invaders.
Not sure if it was better but some used their bicycles and the electric scooters during the snowfall. Around 9 years ago i was stuck around 16 hours in my car on the road to Jerusalem due to heavy snowfall.
Well, you’ve had it worse than I have… the longest I’ve sat in my car on commutes during snow was 3 and half hours.
Ah, also not nice. But these 16 were very special for me in terms of happening and the extreme situation to be stuck with some 200-300 cars around. The army rescued us but the cars stayed there for 2 more days.
Amazing and beautiful shots!
Thank you Carlos !
Fantastic captures. I found using black and white film to photograph similar scenes, a difficult medium to meter capture the whiteness of snow against darker backgrounds. Your photos are spot on. Snow, here in Wales, hasn’t been too often a visitor to the lower ground either. Maybe over the hills and higher altitudes. So can emphasise a little with your experience. We have more rain here. Snow, when present, can be accompanied by brighter skies. Akin to the Sun’s warmth, that you have, to disperse it. All the best.
Thank you for taking a look and very kind words. Same here – Jerusalem is located in the higher area around so even on summer nights the air is chill. This series was photographed on the digital Ricoh point and shot but I also used my medium format Fuji GA645 and in the second half of the roll it started making sounds of the film skid. I developed it already a long time ago and only have to scan and publish in the finale post about this day 😉
I remember getting only about 6 photographs from the 36 roll once due to photographing really heavy snow scenes and the damp somehow got inside the camera. I have never used a digital camera with intent. Just those cheaper ones you can get. Not SLR status. Now it is spring that has finally arrived. Sunshine is so welcome after all the rain experienced for months and months on end. Cheers Victor.
It’s more than 30 already on a daily basis.
I will scan the images and see how they turned out. Seems like the lubricant on the rolling parts freezes when the temperature is close to 0.
The Pentax LX I own is a pretty robust model and is weather sealed. And yet somehow that snowy weather climate really did affect outcomes on that once and only occasion. Never happened before or since. Thank you for your insights Victor.
We haven’t had proper snow here for a good few years now, these are great images Victor, I especially like the tramline and tram shots. Lovely feel to them.
Thank you very much. I was sure that only my country and the african continent don’t know what proper snow is. 😉 I was mistaken as i see by the comments to this post.
In my childhood I lived in Yorkshire, and every winter we had at least 2 months of snow, but that was many, many moons ago now. I do miss it.
i can imagine these amounts!
Great images…we have snow here occasionally, and it has arrived a little early this winter. I can’t help but go out with the camera 🙂
Hey Steve. Thank you very much. So the snow is not a frequent visitor also in your part of the world. I hope you will be able to take some nice pictures of the white environment 😉
Victor great moody shot with your knack for timing as always!
Thank you bro ! I have to scan the analog frames photographed this day as well 😉