A very interesting post. I don't generally take photographs for religious reasons, other than for a mundane purpose (government IDs, taking pictures of receipts for an app, that sort of thing). I started following this shortly before my first trip to Israel.
Before I did that, my goal would have simply been to take as many pictures as possible to share with my friends elsewhere. But now that I was committed to not doing this, I instead had to simply treasure every sight and commit it to memory.
In retrospect, I am glad I did this. COVID permanently changed the landscape of things including in the Middle East. October 7 unfortunately changed many other things. I still have my memories, though, of some of the most ancient cities and civilisations and cultures in the world, some of which are irreplaceable.
Before I did that, my goal would have simply been to take as many pictures as possible to share with my friends elsewhere. But now that I was committed to not doing this, I instead had to simply treasure every sight and commit it to memory.
In retrospect, I am glad I did this. COVID permanently changed the landscape of things including in the Middle East. October 7 unfortunately changed many other things. I still have my memories, though, of some of the most ancient cities and civilisations and cultures in the world, some of which are irreplaceable.