Eddie Adams Photo Assignment

I was assigned to take photos of the sisters at the Monastery of Bethlehem in upstate New York. What made this assignment difficult was that one of the sisters followed me around the whole time. It didn’t feel natural and I felt stifled in how I could move and be in their space. They showed me what they did and how they spent their time. In these situations, I often get flustered and feel unable to work. I knew I had limited time, so I did my best to document what they were showing me. We didn’t get as much time with them. After about two hours, they said that I had done enough and that I couldn’t take anymore photos. The next day, we joined them for mass but we were also limited to where we could stand and where we could go in the chapel. We were not allowed to follow them on their procession. There were a lot of limitations to what we could do and couldn’t do. I did the best I could with the time and access I had. I mainly spent time with Sister Manuela who has been at the monastery for 20 years. She said she was called to a life of solitary and prayer when she was in her mid 20s. The monastery does not allow for photos to be on social media, so this will be the only place to see them.