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FOCUS
ON FAITH
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As A photographer
on a metropolitan daily paper, Brenton Edwards spends
most of his time covering politics, murders and accidents.
Photographing the
terraces and gardens at the Baha'i international centre
in the port city of Haifa in Israel, and sites of historical
Baha'i interest around the world was, he says, "a
wonderful change of pace".
Last year, Brenton
decided to follow in the footsteps of an exhausting
journey made by 'Abdu'l-Baha, the son of the prophet-founder
of the Baha'i Faith, Baha'u'llah.
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In the early years of the
twentieth century, few books about the Baha'i Faith existed
in the English language. From 1910-1913, 'Abdu'l-Baha visited
dozens of followers of the newly established faith in the
United States and Europe, speaking on unity, peace and tolerance.
His itinerary took in Paris,
London, Montreal and New York, where he addressed countless
gatherings in churches, halls and private homes, trade union
centres and peace societies, giving talks and meeting dignitaries
and members of the press.
Brenton visited these cities,
as well as Haifa, taking photographs for a forthcoming collection
to be published this year.
"I've been working
for the Adelaide Advertiser, which is the main morning city
paper for south Australia, for the past thirteen years, so
this was a big change from what I do every day," said
Brenton, 36.
"The project really
began about six years ago, when I went on a Baha'i pilgrimage
to Haifa. It's similar to Jews visiting Jerusalem, or Muslims
going to Mecca; we try to make this journey at least once
in our lifetimes. I took a lot of photographs while I was
there, and when I came back to Australia friends kept asking
for copies.
"I had also given some
copies to the Baha'i bookshop in Haifa, but they sold out
really quickly, and reprints also kept selling out. Eventually,
a friend suggested I put all the photos I'd taken into a book."
As well as images of Haifa,
Brenton decided to take photographs in some of the cities
'Abdu'l-Baha had visited.
"For me, it was a very
exhausting trip," he said. "Five countries in three
weeks puts a lot of pressure on you to get each image right.
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"And although
these are places which are very special to Baha'is,
it was important for me to work in the same way I would
on the newspaper, taking each photo with an idea of
how it will look on the page.
"What I hope,
when the book is published, is that people will see
places they haven't seen before, from an angle or in
a certain light that they might not expect - whether
it's seeing the Eiffel Tower from the window of the
room 'Abdu'l-Baha stayed in while he was in Paris, or
the stunning architecture of the Baha'i international
centre in Haifa.
"It's my way
of showing people a little bit about the Baha'i Faith."
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