While leading us through the market of the Arab quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, my Israeli cousin's daughter Netta stopped in front of a small photographer's storefront with marvelous old prints of Arabs and Jews from the early 1900s through the 1960s.

Inside, she introduced us to her friend, Mr. Ishkhanian, a Jordanian of Armenian descent who had been raised in Amman, and there, under the guidance of his photographer father, became a portrait photographer to the Jordanian royal family.

Those of you who know anything of the Middle East know that the region has a rightful claim to have invented hospitality. Mr. Ishkhanian took us upstairs to his studio and darkroom, and showed us his camera collection, and his files of old 4x5 negatives from which he makes the prints he sells. The oldest are copy negatives of his father's turn of the century work, and with them, his own.

Mr. Ishkhanian showed us how he still retouches facial blemishes on the emulsion side of 4x5 negatives with varying hardness of pencils, a craft I had not seen in the U.S. for more than 40 years.

Over a fresh pot of tea, he gave us his philosophy of portrait photography ("I must like my subject from the moment I first see them, or I tell them I am too busy, because I know a session with them won't satisfy either one of us." ) Our presence as Westerners in his shop proved good luck, as it encouraged other tourists to enter and purchase prints.

If you're in the Old City, ask for Al-Khanka Rd, number 36. He's a treat no photographer should miss!