Brett Garamella

10/29/2026

1 - I’m with Bedouin residents of Al-Araqib in the Negev desert. They are citizens of Israel, yet Israeli authorities have demolished their village and its rebuilt shelters 249 times since 2010. The state has even sued residents to recover demolition costs. Those who remain live beside the village cemetery and keep rebuilding on land they refuse to leave. Without a secure home of their own, they still made me feel welcome.

2 - I’m standing alone in the Cenacle on Mount Zion, the traditional site of Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. The room standing here today is medieval. It later became a mosque, and its Muslim prayer niche remains. Directly below is the Jewish shrine known as King David’s Tomb. The olive tree sculpture behind me was a gift from Pope John Paul II, symbolizing peace between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. With all that history around me, I had the room completely to myself.

3 - This is Sofia, a Jewish Israeli conscientious objector. As a teenager, she publicly refused to join the Israeli army in protest against the war in Gaza and the occupation. She was imprisoned, released, and called up again. Each time, she refused. She served repeated sentences totaling 85 days in military prison before receiving an exemption.

4 - This was where my journey began, arriving at Ben Gurion Airport. Behind me, the customs signs are written in Hebrew, Arabic, English, and French.

10/28/2026

1 - Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem, I looked up and saw Jesus above me. The mosaic depicts Christ Pantocrator, or Christ Almighty, in the dome of the Catholicon, the church’s main Greek Orthodox worship space. The four evangelists appear in the corners beneath him. Standing under it, I felt like Jesus was looking straight at me.

2 - I’m standing in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which brings the traditional sites of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection under one roof. Six Christian denominations share it, but two Muslim families care for its key and door. The Joudeh family keeps the key, a responsibility they trace to Saladin in 1187, and the Nuseibeh family opens and closes the entrance. Muslim families have helped Christians enter this church for centuries. In the Quran, Jesus is a prophet.

3 - Behind me are the bell tower and dark dome of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. I thought I was photographing the Holy Sepulchre. It’s a different church a short walk away.

4 - Just inside the entrance, I turned right and climbed the stairs to Calvary, also called Golgotha. This Greek Orthodox altar marks the traditional spot where Jesus’ cross stood. Pilgrims kneel beneath it and reach through a silver-rimmed opening to touch the rock, which is also visible under glass beside the altar. The silver-covered figure of Mary depicts his mother at the Crucifixion. This is where I saw everyone praying.

5 - These paintings caught my eye. On the right, Jesus is being lowered from the cross. On the left, people gather around his body and mourn him. Christians believe both events happened at places now enclosed within this church, a few steps from where I was standing.

6 - This decorated wall is in the Catholicon, beneath the dome I photographed in the first picture. Scenes of Jesus’s suffering fill the middle panels, with bishops in the medallions below and angels along the top. Even the spaces between the paintings are filled with elaborate gold-colored carvings.

10/27/2026

📸 Had an awesome time speaking at BHPhoto in NYC.
Watch the full video ⬇️

Brett Garamella has spent over a decade making cinematic portraits ...

10/26/2026

1 - I’m looking at the the Door of Humility at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestine. The doorway was lowered in Ottoman times beneath the Crusader arch you can still see above it, keeping carts and riders on horseback out. Now you enter bent over. A fitting way to approach the birthplace of Jesus.

2 - I’m inside the Church of the Nativity, alone in the main church. Tourism in Bethlehem has fallen sharply, but I still wasn’t prepared to find this place empty. Above the cave Christians honor as Jesus’s birthplace, it felt like just me and baby Jesus.

3 - Standing near the altar of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, I’m lost for words: gold, icons, and hanging lamps above ground. Beneath the sanctuary, there is an elaborate cave which Christians have honored as Jesus’s birthplace for centuries.

4 - The silver star marks the traditional birthplace of Jesus. Its Latin inscription reads, “Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.” I knelt beside it and prayed for my family, my friends, and for peace.

5 - I went down into the cave system beneath the Church of the Nativity, where the manger was inside this cave, not the wooden stable we all picture at Christmas. I had these rooms to myself, just steps from the spot marking Jesus Christ’s birthplace.

6 - “Ave Maria, gratia plena,” carved into the stone: “Hail Mary, full of grace.” Alone down here, I felt Jesus’s presence. Having the time and quiet to take it all in made this one of the greatest days of my life.

7 - St. Catherine’s, the Franciscan church adjoining the Church of the Nativity, was built in 1882, and was also empty. Every Christmas Eve, Midnight Mass is broadcast around the world from this room. I stood in it alone.

8 - Issa and his wife, my hosts at Ma’an lil-Hayat in Bethlehem. They bought my dinner the first night and refused to let me pay them back, then drove me around town, showing me modern Bethlehem without asking for anything. The hotel is a project of the L’Arche Bethlehem community, created to help fund its work. It is the first hotel of its kind in Bethlehem staffed by people with and without intellectual disabilities. The community brings people together through

10/26/2026

Hi Everyone, I traveled across the West Bank, finding out what life was really like for Palestinians. During this time, I filmed some videos and took some portraits of the most compelling people I met. I will be sharing these stories here now, and some stories will take much longer for me to comprehend what I witnessed and tell. I hope this will help inform and bring people closer to peace and unity despite how ridiculously impossible that may seem at the moment. In fact, this was the common desire for everyone I met in Palestine, to live in peace with Israelis.

09/17/2026

These are Colombia's coffee mountains 🇨🇴☕

Rolling green hills, family-run coffee farms, and views that don't feel real. This is the Zona Cafetera, one of the most beautiful regions in Colombia. Have you ever been? Let me know below 👇

09/12/2026

These people have done this a THOUSAND times and it shows 🌮

Precision like this doesn't come from a shortcut, it comes from years on the trompo. Tag someone who needs to see this 🇲🇽

🎥 Watch full video: https://youtu.be/GAUS-3_DIAc

09/10/2026

Didn't know what to expect but Toluca, Mexico was Fun 🇲🇽

From the food to the hidden corners only someone who grew up here would know, this was such a special way to see the city. Have you ever been to Toluca? Let me know in the comments! 👇

🎥 Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/0MgNu4Mu0MY

09/07/2026

This is NEXT LEVEL machete skills🔪🔥

A skill passed down for generations, right in the middle of Mexico City.

Could you do this? Comment below👇

Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/0MgNu4Mu0MY

09/05/2026

Pure market CHAOS in Mexico City😵

Step into Mercado de la Merced, one of Mexico City's oldest markets. This is the energy of a market that's been running for generations.

Tag someone who'd love this energy 👇

Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/0MgNu4Mu0MY