Portrait of a Fish Merchant

While visiting a well known outdoor market called Mahaneh Yehuda in Jerusalem, I noticed this man sitting in front of his fish for sale, looking off in the distance. I wondered what he was thinking, and how many stories he must have to tell. I took his photograph without any plan to paint it. It would be 11 years later that I began oil painting, and recalled this photo. It was one of my first dozen portraits.