Mount Zion is situated just off the southwest corner of the Old City, which is bounded by nearly three miles of walls dating back to 1538, and this is a glimpse of the historic Hagia Maria Sion Abbey.

Looking up at the inside of the dome at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. Many Christians believe the hill where this church stands is where Christ was crucified, also known as Golgotha.

I spotted this cross on top of a gate in the Christian quarter. There was neat stuff like this to shoot everywhere I turned.

Another one from Mt. Zion. In the courtyard between the Hagia Maria abbey and the room where Catholic tradition holds Jesus presided over the Last Supper, this tree was in full bloom.

Orthodox Jews walking to Shabbat services in the Old City. This was taken on our first night in Israel, a couple of hours after our plane landed. Shabbat, or Sabbath, is celebrated beginning at sundown on Friday, and this family was approaching the Damascus gate of the Old City. Hundreds of Orthodox believers were using this raised median to walk to services through a predominantly Muslim neighborhood, which led me to believe that the sidewalk was there specifically for the observant on their way into the Old City every Friday.

And then there are the Texans. Lots and lots and lots of them.

Some common sights in the Old City (left to right): Hats for sale in the marketplace; a road sign on the side of a who-knows-how-old building; Hebrew writing; the evening sun breaking through into the market.

Before leaving Los Angeles, everyone in the class had to identify a story we would report while in Jerusalem. Mine focused on the Mamilla cemetery, an old Muslim graveyard adjacent to a construction site where the Wiesenthal Center is building a museum of tolerance.

Muslims are concerned that the museum encroaches on sacred space, but Jewish supporters of the project point out that the site held a parking garage for decades. The blue fence separates the construction site from the cemetery.

The old gravestones engraved with old Arabic were amazing to see.

I took most of these on our last day in Jerusalem, after doing an interview at the nearby Independence Park. It was cold, windy and overcast, making a stroll through the cemetery an appropriately somber experience.

Another grave marker bearing Arabic. Some of these dated back hundreds of years.

From Jerusalem, we traveled about 10 miles north to Ramallah, which is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. I was surprised at how severe the topography was in Israel and Palestine -- rocky hills like this one were the norm in and around Jerusalem.

Things are pretty beat-up in Ramallah, after decades of conflict. Here, a pair of Palestinian flags are in need of replacement. I'm sure they'll still be there for a while, though.

While we were in Ramallah, we visited a refugee camp. The UN had been there at some point.

There were a lot of children in the camp. This little guy came into the doorway of a tiny convenience store as our group was passing.

The refugee camp was a truly unique place. Many of the streets were too narrow for cars, and power lines jumped from building to building with no apparent order. Many of the buildings were permanent, making the place feel like more of a fixed community than a transitional place, like we usually think of when we hear "refugee." But most -- if not all -- of the people there are waiting to return to their ancestral land, which for many lies beyond the Israeli border.

This boy followed us for a few blocks.

A few more scenes from the camp.

We also visited Hebron, a historic city torn by conflict and division. There were some remarkable images there, including this concertina wire in a closed-off alley in a shuttered marketplace.

Our last stop was Tel Aviv, where we stayed for three nights before flying home. Most of the photos I took while there were in the old port city of Jaffa, because it was far more photogenic (Tel Aviv is a modern metropolis, not too different from San Diego in many ways.) Jaffa is known in the English Bible as "Joppa," and is cited as early as 2 Chronicles 2:16 (it's also where Jonah found a ship leaving for Tarshish).

The bell tower of St. Peter's Church in Jaffa. As you can see, we enjoyed beautiful weather during our stay by the Mediterranean.

There's a beautiful seaside park in Jaffa that rivals anything San Diego has to offer. It's like they built this little dock specifically for photographers. :)

There was also a boardwalk by the water that was being absolutely pounded by surf that day.

You always look for good light as a photographer. You have a really good day when it follows you around instead. That's what it was like shooting in Israel and Palestine.

I don't know what this says. Probably something important, like, "No photography, or else!"