"A SIMPLE HOUSE" BY HENNA AL KHALILI

This is an article I wrote and photographed for Trendesign magazine. I originally titled it "A Simple House", but it got renamed "Home Sweet Dome" by someone else in the editing process. I hate the new title and the fact that people will think I was the guy who thought up this oh so clever play on words. What can you do? Post it on your blog I guess. One interesting note: in the picture of the bed chamber, the caption reads that its design mimics a woman's womb. Look for a minute at the entrance to the womb and see if you can figure out what that is designed after. Possibly the first semi-pornographic image published in Jordan.

PRESTIGIOUS FACEBOOK PROFILE PHOTO

The King of Jordan's brother, Prince Ali Bin Hussein, is currently running for the Vice President of FIFA for Asia. He has started a grass roots campaign to garner support, including setting up a Facebook page. He is using a photo I took of him for Nox magazine as his profile picture! Someone on his staff must have scanned the photo from the magazine. That brings my Facebook profile shot count to around ten: nine mere mortals, one royal. Always an honor.

MEET ZAID AL FAR

Above is a spread I shot for Nox magazine. The guy featured, Zaid Al Far, is Jordan's only professional bodybuilder. He recently metaled at a big international bodybuilding event in Canada. I did this photo shoot in his bedroom (in both of the photos he's actually standing on his bed). Zaid was reluctant to take his shirt off at first because after the competition in Canada he felt he "let himself go" a bit. So there I was in this young man's bedroom convincing him to take off his shirt and do poses on his bed while I took pictures. I guess that makes me kind of creepy, but it was fun, and Zaid really went for it once his shirt came off (there must be a better way to say that).

MAGAZINES BY THE ADVERTISERS FOR THE ADVERTISERS

When I saw this magazine cover a few days ago, I thought, "nice, Living Well is 15 years old." Living Well is one of the best selling magazines in Jordan. After closer inspection though I discovered that the cover was an advertisement for the telecommunications company Zain. The magazine sold the entire cover as an advertisement! It is no secret that advertisers rule the magazines here in Jordan. Paid readership is so low with most magazines that advertising makes up nearly all their income. With that dynamic in place, the reader takes back seat, if they are even allowed in the car at all. That's why it is impossible to find one honest review of a restaurant, hotel or spa. Everything here is fantastic! Zain is fantastic! Thanks Living Well for this gorgeous cover. It looks great on my coffee table. I hope Pepsi gets it next month!

Update: An inside source informed me that Zain bought the cover of this magazine for roughly $14,000.

KEMPINSKI HOTEL AQABA

I've spent the past week down in Aqaba shooting the kind of new Kempinski hotel here. It's really a lovely place that I hope to enjoy at some point when the work is over. I'm taking a ton of photos to update their website, and each one involves fairly complex lighting scenarios. I'm about mentally and physically spent. Tomorrow is the last day, and then I have Sunday to go snorkeling and enjoy the hotel. One thing I will say, a week of room service and maid service is something I could really get used to.

A WEEKEND OF FIRE AND ICE

I posted these photos almost a week ago and haven't gotten around to explaining them until now (I'm in the middle of a big job). Last weekend Julie and I went to Dubai to renew our visas. In the few days we were there we managed to spend a day at a water park and another at an indoor ski resort. The day we went skiing it was 105 degrees outside. It sounds kind of lame, but it was actually really fun. After a day on the slopes we retired to our two story ski chalet at the Kempinski hotel. I'm writing an article about the experience for an inflight magazine, so we didn't have to pay the $1000 nightly rate. The chalets of the hotel are the windows at the bottom of the slope in the cute picture of Julie. Dubai is crazy. Everyone should visit it before it goes broke. Go soon!

ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS

In a move that will surely bring an end to the newly started Peace Talks between Israel and Palestine, Israel lifted its ban on settlement construction in the West Bank. Wasting no time, Israelis staged large events today, pouring new foundations and speaking out about the oppression of the ban on building.

"For 10 months you have been treated like second-class citizens," said Danny Danon of Mr. Netanyahu's Likud Party at a settlement ceremony. "Today we return to build in all the land of Israel."

If you want to see real second-class citizens, come visit a Palestinian refugee camp here in Jordan. They've existed a little over ten months; actually 62 years. The picture above was taken at the largest landfill in Jordan where men from the camps collect recyclables to make a living.

There is not a huge difference between these selfish Israeli settlers, crazy Koran burning Americans, and radical Arab terrorists. Each religion has its share of uneducated selfish assholes who are loud and steal the spotlight from soft-spoken moderates. Soft-spoken moderates don't attract viewers. Putting idiots like these settlers on the news sells more shampoo. I'm getting tired of it. The world is not full of as many lunatics as the media would have us believe.