How the Pictorial Library is unique

There are other collections of photos of the biblical sites, but we believe that ours has some distinct advantages from what you will find elsewhere or what you can create yourself.

1. The Pictorial Library includes more than the standard tourist sites.  It does include all of the churches and camel stops, but the Pictorial Library also features biblical and ancient cities, archaeological excavations, and geographical panoramas.

2. The Pictorial Library is a library.  By design, it includes thousands of photos of hundreds of sites and scenes so that whatever you're looking for, you're likely to find it here.  We don't have everything, but we have more than you'll find anywhere else.  You can see a list of the sites and photos included on each volume (under "Details" in the left sidebar).

3. The Pictorial Library was created by a photographer living in Israel.  Coming on a single two- or three-week tour is all that most people can do.  But when you live in Israel for more than ten years, you have lots of opportunities that most don't get.  Opportunities like:

• Spending the three major Jewish festivals at various places in the country, especially Jerusalem.

• Photographing the best panoramas on the clearest days.



• Hiking hundreds of miles of trails throughout the land with camera in hand.

• Reading the Bible in the morning and realizing that you've never seen what it describes before, you can that afternoon be standing on the spot.  You don't have to make a list for the "next time you're there."

• Running across the border to Jordan or Egypt for a weekend trip.  

4. The Pictorial Library was created by a teacher living in Israel for more than a decade.  Who knows the needs of a teacher better than one who is in the classroom every day, teaching geography, history, and archaeology to college students?  The Pictorial Library began and continues as a project first to serve its creator and second to serve all those who need the same kind of resource.  As a teacher, the creator of the Pictorial Library had many advantages:

• Visiting the major biblical sites again and again, in the different seasons, at different times of the day.

• Knowing the important discoveries at each site, not missing something because the guide had to skip it that day for lack of time.

• Understanding the whole picture - how the biblical sites relate to the region, how the regions make up the country.  This perspective means you get pictures that others would not think of taking.

• Thinking about how to communicate the Bible - what would be the best picture that "says" to your students what you want it to.  Often one picture can say more and better than what the best communicator can describe in words.  If you're trying to describe the twelve tribes assembling on Mts. Gerizim and Ebal, you'll have less chance of miscommunicating with a picture.  Or three pictures from different angles. 

If you haven't taken our tour, we recommend you check it out.