“Living and working in the Middle East region for more than 20 years as a photographer and writer, I am fascinated with people and how they live their lives. I enjoy discovering what tools people use to live successfully each day; how they celebrate the joys of life and how they walk through sadness and even despair in order to come back to the hope of living another day.
With the influence of modernization and globalization through media and technology, resulting in the diminishing impact of oral traditions and histories, my personal passion is to preserve through photographs and writings some of the unique qualities of these cultures, so that the following generations in the Middle East, as well as other world cultures looking in to the region, will be able to reference the beautiful buildings blocks upon which the Middle Eastern society has been built and will hopefully continue to expand upon.
Leading numerous photographic expeditions within Egypt, Israel and Cyprus, I have appreciated the interaction between the photographers and their subjects. To me, photographing is more than simply capturing an image. It is communicating with those you are photographing. It is appreciating their uniqueness, their perspective on life – even if it is contrary to my own belief or value system.
Those that I photograph come from many spheres of life. Some are leaders in their villages and are very well established and respected. Some live in difficult situations such as refugee camps or on the streets; they are widows, the elderly, and those that are handicapped – physically and emotionally – because of war, poverty and oppression. They all have many stories to tell and each story has many layers that are not the result, only of what is seen in the day, but is the result of decisions made generations ago. The lives of these individuals have had deep influence on my life and I consider it a privilege to capture through my camera and through writings, the lives of those living in the Middle East.”
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Teresa lives with her husband, Tom, on the island of Cyprus, where they first moved to in 1992. Teresa has is Co-Director of a non-profit organization that helps to support and encourage other non-profit organizations within the Middle East to network together for the purpose of resources, training, and multiplication. Teresa has taught photography in the U.S., Cyprus, Egypt and Israel. She has completed two books on the Middle East and is presently working on her third book focusing on the Sudanese Refugees within Cairo, Egypt.
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Teresa’s website: Focused on the nations
Also, follow Teresa on Instagram
