The best pupil in the class

In Chinese schools can a good study result become a ticket to a schoolarship for poor children. The pupils are highly motivated and everybody want to be the best pupil in the class. The girl in the middle is the best pupil in the third grade at the school in Shang Ya Men. She is very proud over the Student Representative badge that she wears as a reward for being the best pupil.

Text and photo: Mikael Good

The tide of history

I like to visit historical places and feel the tide of history. One of the places that I have visited is Pergamum which is a ancient Greek city with a rich history. Pergamum is also one of the the seven churches of Asia which is cited in the Bible.

Text and Photo: Mikael Good

Education breaks poverty

Zhang is a shy 10-year old girl who goes to school in the village Chuyi Pu in southern China. Zhang lost both her parents when she was five and she lives with her grandmother in a small ramshackle house, without water or electricity.

Her grandmother's economy is bad and she couldn't afford to pay the school fee. She could start school thanks to financial aid from a Swedish NGO. Zhang is a talented and highly motivated student which you can see on the scarf she proudly wears around her neck. The scarfs are handed out by the headmaster of the school to students who have studied and behaved well. 



Nearly 12 years has gone since I met Zhang and her grandmother. She was highly motivated when she was 10 and if she kept that motivation I belive that Zhang has been able to break out of poverty and create a better future for herself.

Text and Photo: Mikael Good

Koreans worshipping God at the summit of Mount Sinai

A group of Koreans Christians sang the hymn How Great Thou Art at the summit of Mount Sinai. It's the place where Moses received the 10 commandments from God.

Text and Photo: Mikael Good

Before sunrise at Mount Sinai

Mount Sinai was the place where Moses received the ten commandments from God. This is the view he had in the mornings when he woke up. I don't usually do sunsets or take photos in colour. But I couldn't resist to capture the magnificent colours that I saw from the top of the mountain just before sunrise.

Text and Photo: Mikael Good

The house of death

A young homeless man who slept in this room in a abandoned hospital in a suburban area in St. Petersburg, Russia was trapped in his sleeping bag when the primitive stove caught fire and set the room on fire within seconds. The young man died but his three friends managed to escape from the fire. 

Many young people from the St. Petersburg area comes to the abandoned hospital to party and have illegal rave parties. They are introduced to GHB and cheap heroin from Afghanistan. The hospital is called the house of death because so many young people are introduced to drugs that will consume them and end heir lives far too early.

Text and Photo: Mikael Good

Education is a way out of poverty

I visited a remote Tibetian village in december 2004. Many of the parents in the village was illiterate. But even if they couldn't read or write they wholeheartedly supported their children that had been given a chance to go to school and get a education thanks to the support of a Swedish NGO. The schoolchildren was very ambitious and most of them wore a red scarf that is a proof of good school results. Even if the children was only 9 years old they knew that a good grade could lead to a scholarship and a proper job which is the only way out of poverty for both them and their families.

Text and Photo: Mikael Good

Moses ancestors came from Eastern Europe

The name of the young bedouin is Moses. I met him when he guided me to the top of Mount Sinai (Horeb) in Sinai, Egypt. His main occupation is to guide tourist to the top. Moses belongs to the Jebeliya Bedouin tribe (The People of the Mountains) who lives in the surroundings of St. Catherine Monastery. According to the Jebeliya they are of Romanian and Greece origin and they were brought to Sinai by the Byzantine emperor Justinian to build, protect and serve at the Monastery that was finished in 565 AD. 

There are 34 different Bedouin tribes in Sinai. 33 of them immigrated from the Arabian peninsula between the 14th and 18th centuries. Every tribe on the Sinia Peninsula has it own special dialect which differentiates them from the other tribes. There are around 300 000 bedouins on the Sinai peninsula and 4600 of them belongs to the Jebeliya tribe. During the centuries the Jebeliya tribe intermarried with Arab Bedouins and became Muslims. They have since long lost most of their old traditions and their life is now quite similar to other Bedouins in the area. But they are aware of their origin and has kept some unique features.

Text and Photo: Mikael Good

Pergamum - Worship of man

“To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘I know your works, and where you dwell... where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to my name, and did not deny my faith even in the days in which Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.'"
Revelation 2:12

Today all that remains of the ancient city Pergamum are worn and looted ruins. But when the Apostle John received the revelation from God about Pergamun, it was one of the most influential cities in the whole Roman Empire. Pergamum was also the center for worship of the Roman Emperor who was believed top be part God and part human in ancient times.
 
Text and Photo: Mikael Good

Darkness, I Embrace You

I prefer to use digital rangefinder cameras when I document my surroundings. But there are situations when a rangefinder can't do the job properly. One of those situations is when you want to take photos in bad light conditions without flash. 

During the past three years I have developed a fondness for Sony's mirrorless cameras and the excellent picture quality that they give in low light conditions. I have been longing for the A7s since it came out but I didn't want to pay full price and decided to wait till I could get one second hand for a bargain price. Eventually I found one for the right price and i sold my A7r and invested the money in the low light sensation A7s. Darkness used to be my enemy and many of my pictures have been destroyed by either film grain or noise. 

But all that is history for me since the A7s can produce good picture quality up to 25.600 ASA! I took the photo of my son with my A7s and a Sigma 50/1,4 at 1,4. The only light source was the computer screen. With the A7s I have conquered the darkness and can embrace it - let there be light!

Text and Photo: Mikael Good

Leica (like) father like son

My wife, daughter and I was invited to a photo exhibition that was held at my son Matheos kindergarten yesterday. Matheo and his classmates had organized a photo exhibition for their parents and siblings. We looked at the photo exhibition and Matheo was really proud of his pictures. We were also offered homemade cupcakes that the children had made and strawberry juice. Because of the rules of the kindergarten I can´t  show you Matheos own pictures in this blog.



I must say that Matheo has an eye for photography and especially for documentary photography. But that is not so surprising for me since he started his career with a Leica M3 and has a father who works as documentary photographer every now and then :)

Text and Photo: © Mikael Good. All Rights Reserved.