FIGHTING FOR FOCUS

A magazine I really like and respect here in Jordan is called JO. What I like about JO is that it is completely local, focuses on tough issues, and generally has good photography. This month however they put a picture of Princess Rym on the cover that was out of focus. Don't get me wrong, shooting royalty is stressful. They don't typically pose for shots and their time is very limited. You have about 5 minutes tops to get it right. JO's photographer must have been using camera generated focus points, and the camera decided the Princess' scarf was more important to have in focus than the face. Bad camera.

OUD PLAYING BAD ASS

I'm going to be honest in this post, because I know the guy pictured above will never read my blog. The subject is a famous oud player here in Jordan. An oud is for all practical purposes an oversized mandolin. The guy, who's name I never got, was an amazing musician, but he had one of the filthiest houses I've ever been in: mold everywhere, peeling paint, foul smells, piles of trash, bugs, rodents, etc. Out of complete filth I created the above photo.

Photographers sometimes don't get the credit they deserve. In a world where just about everyone owns a camera, there is typically not a distinction made between your garden variety camera owner and one who takes photos for a living. I've been told more than a few times after I've said no to an insulting job offer that "$50.00 to push a button is good money." Had I simply pushed a button in the above photo, people would have thought the article was about a homeless guy. Any good photographer wears many hats: set designer, wardrobe consultant, grip, lighting specialist, location scout, producer, director, bull-shiter, and finally, the guy who pushes the button (after all the other little buttons have been adjusted properly). For the above photo I was all these things. I picked a suitable location, designed my set, cleaned the area I was shooting, had the man change shirts as not to clash with the background, moved things, set up lights, adjusted lights, adjusted the subject, relaxed my subject, and then I pushed the button about 100 times. One thing that rarely happens that happened here was that the first shot of the session ended up being my favorite. I made the poor choice after taking a few photos of asking the subject to switch glasses with the writer, because his were a foot thick and reflected light from wherever I placed them. But the new glasses lacked the character of the thick ones. I almost forgot; a photographer is also a daredevil. I graciously drank a cup of coffee the man prepared in his ought to be condemned kitchen.

THINK FOR YOURSELF PEOPLE!

I took the top photo for Al-Sijill magazine back in December. I opened up Venture business magazine this month, and their lazy photographer copied my shot almost exactly (though I don't think he quite understands how his flash works). This kind of lame stuff happens all the time here in the wild west of publishing. Some magazines are made up entirely of Google images, and some designers spend hours removing watermarks from stock images. At first glance I actually thought Venture was using my photo. On closer inspection I identified it as a fugazie.

WHICH COVER DO YOU PREFER?

One of these covers was just published. If you read my blog, please leave a comment on which you prefer. The man featured is a famous musician here in Jordan. Thanks!

SIX SENSES RESORT AND SPA

Sitting in the middle of a massive canyon that makes its way from sea level down to the lowest point on earth (The Dead Sea) is the beautiful Six Senses Resort and Spa. Six Senses is a brand of high end, high aesthetics hotels located in mostly Asian countries. When I say high end, I mean serious money. Rooms start at about two hundred dollars per night and work their way up to over a thousand. I got an 8 oz can of Coke with dinner that cost $5.50 (street price in Amman is $.35). Costs aside, the resort is one of the most peaceful places I've visited in Jordan (or in any country come to think of it). The resort is surrounded by a series of geo-thermal waterfalls. One is part of the Six Senses Spa, shown in the bottom photo, and the larger serves as a backdrop to the hotel proper. Julie and I ate dinner by candlelight on a couch that looks out over that waterfall. We also sat on our deck with a bottle of wine in complete silence under a planetarium of stars.

HOW DO YOU FIND JORDAN?

Inevitably, whenever you meet someone here in Jordan, one of the first questions they will ask you is, "How do you find Jordan?" My standard answer is that I like it very much. The typical Jordanian reaction is surprise followed almost immediately by a look of pride. Jordan is by no means an easy country to live in. There are lots of things to get used to. But at the end of the day, it is a safe place with lots of opportunity, lots of good people who will go out of their way to help you, and also a place full of history and fascinating geography. So to me, Jordan is much like wine; definitely better after it sits for at least a year.

JORDAN TRIES TO BE GOOD

Like most of the world, Jordan has begun to embrace the green movement. This is a good thing. They do however have a long road ahead to change the behavior of a culture that hasn't really cared about such things in the past. I was taking photos at a big conference about a week ago, and one section of the event was dedicated to "green companies" here in Jordan. I was handed a schedule of events, and to my complete lack of surprise, found the paper to be coated in a non-biodegradable plastic. Like I said, Jordan is trying.

STEADY INCOME

I just accepted a retainer position with the Near East Media corporation to shoot three of their magazines each month. Above is my first cover for their car magazine Torque. The day of the shoot was unique in that it was rainy and gray, which provided a nice compliment to the car's color. I used three strobes to light the Porsche so I could set the exposure for the dark skies behind the car.

In the bottom photo I experimented with my Elinchrom wireless trigger set, which does in fact work in tandem with Canon's infrared triggers. I had my ST-E2 on top of my camera and the radio trigger plugged into the camera's PC socket. This allowed me to stay in ETTL mode, but also to fire a flash inside the car that the infrared signal couldn't reach. Surprisingly, when I was back home in Portland and suggested the idea, nobody at the pro store had ever tried it. Well, it works. As you can see as well, that gray day ended with a beautiful sunset.

JULIE REACTS TO MIDDLE EAST MISOGYNISM

There is no arguing that Jordan and the Middle East are misogynistic cultures, though things have gotten better in the past decade: women have high powered jobs, they feel free to dress how they please, and there is even some degree of sexual freedom. But things aren't perfect. Twice now Julie has fallen victim of female discrimination. In the first instance, she went into a copy store to print out her resume, only to come back a minute later without it. The self-loathing woman behind the counter told her it would take a few hours to complete the job. I went into the store a minute later and the same girl immediately walked me down to the copy station and printed up the resume. Yesterday I had an assignment at the Roman Citadel and Julie came along. While I was setting up Julie attempted to walk around the site, only to be told it was closed. I informed her this wasn't true which she didn't believe, and as I was taking the above photo a group of men entered the site. This is one of those cases where a picture is worth a thousand words, most of them profanities.