DESPERATION INSPIRES ART

I purchased this painting yesterday from a store in Amman. It is by an Iraqi artist who recently received the rare privilege of being able to emigrate to Sweden. I've made it a point when I travel to buy a piece of art from all the countries I visit. My one requirement is that the painting must encapsulate my impression of the place. It has taken me a while to find this particular painting. You go into a store here and everything is camels and bustling street markets. This has not been my overriding impression of the Middle East. This man sits smoking a desperate cigarette, full of longing, yet lacking almost all hope for the future. Yet there remains the candle, and he clings to that as people here cling to the idea that things will get better one day. Unfortunately I hear a lot about Barack Obama making everything better, and very little about Jordanians making things better. I suppose a monarchy kills ambition the same as anti-depressants and pot do back in the States. Nevertheless, I find hope in this painting. The artist must have painted it when things seemed like they couldn't get any worse, and then fate intervened. Now he's in Sweden, perhaps a bit guilty, and certainly struggling for inspiration.

MEET HAZIM ALAEDDIN

I took the above photo for Venture business magazine. Hazim Alaeddin is CEO of Kulacom, Jordan's first wireless end to end wimax internet provider. They also have their hands in many other things like digital voice and a state of the art data center (which Hazim is standing in). Competition is tough with around 8 companies competing heavily in what is currently a relatively small but growing market. Kulacom stands out in that their business model is heavily focused on the quality of service and customer satisfaction. In a country where most businesses see customers only as dollar (or dinar) signs, this gives them a huge leg up. Their internet is fast and extremely reliable. Another big difference with Kulacom is while all other providers in the region rely on fiber optic cable somewhere in their delivery systems, Kulacom uses microwave technology. When fiber optic cables are cut (and this happens all the time in this developing nation), all the other providers go down while Kulacom stays online. They boast one of the most advanced systems anywhere in the world. When asked during the interview what Hazim attributed his success to, he mentioned only his family and the inspiring intellect of a former college roommate.

MEET AHMAD HUMEID

I met Ahmad Humeid on a shoot for Al-Sijill magazine. He is a pioneer in the field of Middle Eastern media. Ahmad started his first design studio in 1991 while still studying architecture at the University of Jordan. Since then he has been involved in various publishing, design and technology ventures in the Middle East. In 1996 he was part of the founding team of Arabia.com, the Arab region’s first internet based portal.

His current Amman based design firm, Syntax, works with companies as well as governmental, non-governmental and international organizations to create innovate brands, design and user experiences. Syntax recently handled the branding and web design for the city of Amman.

In late 2005, Ahmad co-founded TootCorp, a web venture focusing on the potential of self-publishing and user-created media. In 2006, TootCorp launched Ikbis.com, the first Arab photo and video sharing site, which was described by Newsweek magazine as the Arab YouTube. His writings can be found at www.360east.com where he maintains a very popular blog. He also owns one of only 4 Smart cars in the country of Jordan.

ALL THE KING'S CARS

It's good to be King. It means having nice things, like a 5 story underground parking garage filled with cars like these. Of course, these are the cars that weren't nice enough to make it into the museum down the street, or into his majesty's personal parking garage filled with the cars he uses. In the "overflow" garage next to the car featured above was a Lincoln that was a gift from President Nixon.

This shoot was a test to see if I could handle the actual job which is to photograph 12 of the King's nicest cars for a calender. I was told very little beforehand, only that I was going to shoot cars. I ended up inside the Royal Palace. The only ID I had on me was a credit card. Imagine a foreigner being let onto the grounds of the White House after showing a credit card. It got me in and thus started the challenge of shooting highly reflective shiny things with three flashes and a small bag of light shaping tools. The jury is still out as to whether I passed the test, but I really hope I do. There is a bit of irony in shooting cars when for the first time in my life since I was fifteen I don't even own one. Perhaps I can work out a trade for Nixon's Lincoln!

A LODGE LIT BY CANDLES

I was back in Jordan less than 12 hours before I found myself in a car heading down to shoot Feynan Ecolodge in the Dana Biosphere Reserve, about 3 hours south of Amman. The lodge was named one of the top ecolodges in the world by National Geographic Adventure. It can only be accessed by 4 wheel drive or by hiking in 4 hours. The lodge by day is nice, with basic amenities and good aesthetic design, but by night it takes on an entirely different feel. Local Bedouin run Feynan and spend the day molding around three hundred candles that illuminate the lodge at night. It is quite romantic, or so my 4 other male travel companions concurred. My favorite part was the roof. It is scattered with mattresses so you can take in the unpolluted night sky. It also makes for a hell of a place to have a cup of tea.

THE MOST BIZARRE PLACE ON EARTH?

I know this is a big claim, but through all my travels, I think it may be true. The House on the Rock is located 7 miles south of Spring Green, Wisconsin. It all started as a unique house that was built atop of Deer Shelter Rock by an eccentric man named Alex Jordan. The house itself is a small part of the current attraction, but one of the most interesting. It features low ceilings throughout, self playing music machines, is dimly lit in blues and reds, and utilizes locally quarried stone for the walls and furniture. As the house itself became a popular attraction, Jordan began collecting and expanding. His collection of stuff takes another full 3 hours to view. He has model ships, doll houses, guns, self playing music machines, armor, the world's largest carousel, a steam engine, million pieces of miniature circus people, a three story whale, massive carved ivory statues, and the list goes on. It is imagination and consumerism gone wild. I don't think there is a more American attraction anywhere. Alex Jordan was a man who bent reality to his will, creating wealth, but more importantly, a legacy. And he did it all by buying lots and lots of interesting stuff!

CORPORATE GREED CAUGHT OUT ON A LEDGE

Today I visited a well known Chicago landmark, the Willis Tower. Maybe you've never heard of it. Perhaps you know it by it's old name, the Sears Tower. In March 2009 a London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings, Ltd., agreed to lease a large portion of the Sears Tower and as part of the agreement obtained the building's naming rights. On July 16th, 2009, at 10:00 am Central Time, the building was officially renamed Willis Tower. On August 24th, 2009 I refused during the entire duration of my visit to call the building by its stupid new name. How do you get away with renaming a famous American landmark after your crappy foreign company? Answer: As enraged as I was, I still had to admit that the newly installed "don't hate us" Skyboxes, which are glass boxes that extend out over the building with a clear view 103 stories down, are pretty cool. What happened to you Sears? You used to be cool. You could have built Skyboxes, but somehow you were led astray into the land of Lee jeans and $20.00 shoes.