This week I have a couple of portraits of some Jordanian handicraft workers I met last December. A day before Christmas  we took a tour to visit baptism site, Mount Nebo, and a mosaic town of Madaba. Just a few kilometres outside Madaba we stopped at the big Jordan River Foundation outlet that carries a huge collection of mosaic and other handicrafts. We were allowed to go to the back to see how the mosaic and other arts/handicraft objects were made. That was how I got to meet these lovely ladies.

They were sitting side by side behind a long working table; painting, drawing, working, laughing and chatting, and having a good jolly time at work. We came to the room and peeked behind their shoulders to see their work, while the sales assistant/lady guide was explaining us the whole process.

I asked them, via our english speaking guide, whether it was okay to take photos while they were working. The ladies were super friendly and allowed me to take photos. Then I remember that I brought my new toy with me (a Polaroid camera I got for early Christmas), and then started taking pictures of them using the Polaroid camera. I told them that they could keep all the photos I took with the Polaroid camera. They suddenly got very excited, and I started to see more twinkling in everybody’s eyes. The photo above was taken after I took the Polaroid shots. It was so much fun to see them giggling, waving the Polaroid photo, and comparing their photos with each other. There was a lot of laughter and playfulness in that workshop that day, despite our disruption to their work.

This 52 project is all about people portraits, but I think it would be unfair to the ladies if I did not show you some of their work that day.

ps: for more info about Jordan River Foundation, click here