الحدود الأردنية السورية ، جولة مع الجيش العربي الأردني . Jordan -Syria border, a day with the Jordanian Armed Forces.
تشرفت في قضاء يوم مع حرس الحدود في المنطقة الشمالية لتغطية المجهود الأردني لمساعدات اللاجئين من سوريا و الأوضاع الصعبة التي يعانون منها للوصول إلى الأردن . يقوم الجيش هناك بحماية وتأمين ما يزيد عن ٤٥ نقطة عبور منتشرة على حدود يبلغ طولها ما يقرب ال-٤٠٠ كم . وبلغ عدد اللاجئين حتى الأن ما يقارب ال-٣٥٠ ألف شخص معظمهم من النساء و الأطفال ، ٩٠ ألف منهم منذ بداية العام . بتكلفة تقارب ال-٣٥٠مليون دولار على القوات المسلحة .
I had the privilege of spending the day with border patrol units of the Jordanian army near the Jordan -Syria border to cover the effort of the armed forces in securing safe passage from Syria to Jordan and to document the tough conditions the refugees go through to reach Jordan. Jordanian armed forces man over 45 secure passage points stretching nearly 400 km of border . Jordan has received around 350 thousand refugees so far , most women and children , 90 thousand of them since the beginning of the year with a cost of
around 35o million dollars.
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- Panoramic silhouette shot , of a tent in a refugee camp on the Jordan- Syria border. صورة بانورامية لخيمة في مخيم اللاجئين .
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- Panoramic shot of soldier manning vechile on the borders. عسكري أردني في موقعه بالقرب من الحدود السورية الأردنية .
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- Jordanian Soldier manning post near processing center. عسكري أردني في موقعه بالقرب من مركز تسجيل اللاجئين .
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- طفلة سورية مع مذيعة اردنية لحظة الدخول إلى الأراضي الأردنية . A Syrian child as she crosses over with a local news reporter.
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- An injured Syrian refugee being treated by the Army Medical Services. علاج رجل سوري من قبل الخدمات الطبية الملكية التابعة للقوات المسلحة .
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- رجل سوري ، ينقل كل ما يملك في حقيبة . A Syrian man , carrying all of his belonging in a single suit case.
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- Refugees are taken into a command center where they are registered before being transported to a refugee camp several miles away . يقوم الجيش بتسجيل اللاجئين قبل نقلهم إلى المخيمات .
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- طفلة سورية لحظات دوخلها الأراضي الأردنية . Syrian child as she crosses border.
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- طفل سوري ، بعد تأمين دخوله من الجيش العربي الأردني إلى الأراضي الأردنية ، يسقط أرضاً ويبدأ في البكاء Syrian child , after secured passage, collapses on the ground and starts crying.
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- فتاه من سوريا ، تجلس وحيدة وتنظر إلى الأراضي الأردنية ، يوجد خلفها مباشرة ما يقارب ال-٢٠٠ لاجئ سوري ، على بعد ١٠ أمتار من الحدود . Syrian girl staring into Jordanian territory , around 10 meters away from the borders and with 200 or so refugees behind her.
من الشارع .
- في بلد تقوم فيه الدولة في حجب المواد الاباحية على الموقع الالكترونية ، يمكن مشاهدة مثل هذه الأحداث في الشارع علناً . بانجكوك ، ثايلند ، ٢٠١٢ ،
غالباً ما يشكل ظهور تيار ٣٦ إزعاجاً لمعظم المشاركين في المظاهرات و يتم الطلب منهم بالإبتعاد عن المشاركين ، تم إعتقال العجارمة بعد بضعة أيام من أخذ هذه الصورة ، عمان ٢٠١٢ .
لا تعليق هنا ، سوى الرجاء من المصورين المحليين إستعمال القليل من الخيال في وضع الإطار المناسب للصور . عمان ٢٠١٢ .
- أخلاقياً أفضل أن لا أنشر صوراً تظهر فيها وجوه البشر ، لكنني أمام مثل هذه الوجوه عاجز .
- يقول أحد عظماء ألتصوير ، إذا لم تكن صورك على قدر كافي من الجودة ، إقترب . بالعربي ابعد عن الزوم دخيل الله .
- في إحدى فعاليات الاخوان المسلمين ، وجدت فتى يراقب الفعالية من بعيد ، إقرأ التيشرت .
- في إحدى فعاليات الاخوان المسلمين ، لدعم سورية ، عمان ٢٠١٢ .
- الحراك ، عمان ٢٠١٢ .
- إتهم أحد المشاركين ، الأمن العام في القيام بدعسه ، نفس الشخص يدبك بعد أيام قليلة من الحادثة ، سوبر مان ما شاء الله . عمان ٢٠١٢ .
- فعلياً ، السخص والوحيد في المظاهرات الذي أتعاطف معه . عمان ٢٠١٢ .
- قبل ما الدوله الورديه تحجب . بانجكوك ٢٠١٢
البحث عن الأردن
البحث عن الأردن . هو العنوان المبدئي لكتاب تصويري أنوي نشره في أحد الأيام ، و كما هو مبين في الصور ، فإن السؤال المطروح في الكتاب يدور حول ألهوية، من نحن ؟ كيف نعيش ؟ ما هي الظروف التي تشكل افكارنا ومعتقداتنا ؟ وهنا أريد أن اطلب مساعدتكم ، فهنالك الكثير من الأحداث و الممارسات التي تحصل في البلد أجهل عنها ، فأرجوا من القارئ الكريم لفت نظري أو التواصل معي في حالة وجود حدث أو قصة تعتقدون بوجود صلة بينها وبين موضوع ألهوية الوطنية .
Muqawameh Sha3bieh – Khotta Ba – مقاومه شعبيه – خطة ب
Muqawameh Sha3bieh is the first single to be released from Khotta BA new album Altatweer al7adari . On sale next week .
أغنية مقاومه شعبيه من ألبوم خطة ب ، التطوير الحضري واللذي سيتوفر في الأسواق مطلع الأسبوع القادم .
Almukhatat : Nohood ma7alli
Needless to say, last Fridays event was by far our most amazing event to date, backed with some of the regions dopest MC’s and DJ’s , we managed to sell out both events at the Rainbow theatre and the after pary at Canvas. And inbetween managed to raise the freedom of speech artistically to level this country has not seen before. There are so many people to thank for this, whether it was the Rainbow theatre going out of their way to help us promote and set up the show, to the energy the guys brought to the stage and the photographers who helped Immortal film this. But most importantly we have to thank the audience that stayed for more than 8 hours with us for both shows.
To Amman, thank you, we will back soon.
El Far3i and Deeb unplugged in Cairo
One of the most sweetest things about our trip to Cairo for ,the Voice of the Street event, besides the actual show, was the opportunity to hang out with some of the best artists in the Arab world, evey day , all day for two weeks, the following was a product of these hang outs .
The Gods of Egypt
A few weeks ago, a friend showed interest in an online article that talked about a group of doctors and volunteers who were and still are helping those who got shot during the Egyptian uprising and the families of the martyrs as well.
That interest turned into a conversation about raising awareness and funds to aid the January 25 heroes. Soon I was on my way to Egypt, this is a preview of what I was able to capture.
The mother of an 18 year old boy who was shot and killed during the uprisings. 9 months after the incident, not one person has been brought to justice for his murder.
Ashraf, 41 years old, was shot in the leg on January 28th, after receiving basic medical aid, Ashraf was only addmitted for surgery on May 11th, meaning he spent around 4 months with a bullet in his body.
Ashraf in the city of dead , cairo
Ahmad and Ali, both guys lost eye sight in their left eyes due to rubber bullets injuries, Ali to the right , still has a bullet in his forehead. Both returned to Tahrir Square the very next day to continue the fight, picture taken in Tahrir square.
Sign reads " The revolution continues"
While you were fasting.
It takes weeks if not months for us to post projects we work on; this one however is very different. This week I tagged along with the wonderful people of “Smile in a Box” an initiative geared towards securing poor families with food items and hot meals during the month of Ramadan. I say this project is different because I think that not a lot of people in Jordan recognize just how bad things are for the poor here . Coupled with the fact that even the affluent part of society has been hit hard by the economic crisis and thus less people are donating money and time for such causes, I hope that this will help raise awareness and prompt you dear readers to perhaps help out with this cause or any other ones that you feel is well worth your money and time. This effort will never come close to solving the injustice our brothers and sisters face, but it will, at least for a few days, put a smile on their faces.
For many families, trash is a major source of income and food, people go through it mainly for bread, they then put it out in the sun so it dries and eat it with tea so it become softer.
This is dinner . Long term impact on health is very destructive , as most of this bread comes straight from the trash cans.
Kids prepare to get their food packages and hot meals.
The east has a spirit that is seldom seen in West Amman.
every woman and child in this picture is either an orphan or a widow.
one of the widows showed me this picture of her dead husband. He left four kids behind and because of our" laws", his kids were not granted citizenship since he was Egyptian.
This hit me the hardest, one man, age 67, with 11 people to cater for including a mentally disabled girl. He gets around 60 jod from the ministry of Social development , ( $90) per month.
From the camps with Hip Hop
The last time we posted something Hip Hop it was about our work with some of the top artists in the industry, guys like Nas, Damian Marley, Jay Electronica, Eryka Badu and Mr. Porter; today we take you to the other side of what we do. The underground side of things.
This time our journey took us to AL- Hussein refugee camp in Amman, to document the wonderful work done by Danish group of DJ and MC’s, a project whose “ Overall aim was to include a marginalized group of young Palestinian boys and girls in the global youth culture of dj-ing and give them the possibility to make it their own.” The project also teaches kids how to write their own lyrics and verses.
I could go on and on about how wonderful this group is, and how important their work is in bringing hope, compassion and understanding to a marginalized part of our society, but honestly if I have to explain it to you then I am talking to the wrong audience. All I can say however is thank you. There is a lot of effort, time, hard work and travel that goes into this, to go through all that in order to bridge cultures closer and for the love of music ,is humbling to say the least.
Two Jordanian artists helped the Danish crew at the workshop, and these two happen to be some of my favorite people in the Jordanian artistic scene. Ustaz Sam (whom you have probably seen in the Arabs Got talent show on MBC, and Damar, Jordan’s finest beat maker), I admire these guys not only because of their artistic talents but because they understand the social and community aspects of their work and are always willing to help others in the community.
What impressed me the most was the communal brotherly feeling of the workshop, the kids don’t speak English very well, yet they formed a beautiful bond with the Danish DJ’s and rappers. To me that’s what hip hop is all about, that unexplainable bond between people from different background, races, cultures and countries coming together to make music and share a wonderful experience. The only bond being their shared humanity and music.
I guess that tough upbringing conditions make kids understand the world around them a lot better and at a younger age. I say this because when I heard the kids rap, they spoke of some real serious problems they face in their daily lives, some talked about the conditions in school, others talked about how religion is taught at schools and others talked about how hard it is to do something different in society. I mean a couple of these kids were wearing Che Guevara t-shirts, for them to draw parallels between Che and Hip Hop and their own personal conditions shows a level of maturity that is seldom seen in kids that age.
Finally, we would like to thank the Danish team for allowing us to tag along and for all the love and kindness they showed the kids. We hope to continue working together in the future and build the project further.
THE LEICA-MAGNUM EVENT.
It was a beautiful summer evening in Paris, the weather was simply amazing, the event was held at one of the nicest palaces I have seen, the typical Paris story would dictate that I now go on and talk about the beautiful lady sharing that evening with me, instead I was surrounded by two Jordanian from the city of Karak, oh yes and a selection of some of the finest photographers in history!
Che, Nasser, the Vietnam war, the construction of the Berlin wall, the Six days war, Arafat, King Hussein, Sadat, Nixon, are all iconic personalities and events in mankind’s history, when one thinks of them, one often thinks of them in relation to an image, most these images were taken by Magnum photographers with Leica cameras.
Though they have shared over 60 years of history together, the relationship between Leica and Magnum was never formalized and that was the purpose of this event. Leica also introduced its new M9 model , and btw Leica if you are reading this Laith and I still demand that we get a couple of those.
The event began with panel discussions about the challenges photojournalists face in today’s world vis-à-vis technological developments such as phone camera, twitter and facebook. The panel included, representatives from the media , Leica , Magnum . Leica had asked us to nominate a blogger to participate in this discussion and our choice was Jordan’s own Naseem Tarawneh, founder and contributor to http://www.black-iris.com/ and 7iber.com. As evident by the video Leica put out and feedback we got from the attendees, that was indeed a very wise choice. I take immense pride in what this young man and his team has managed to do in reference to social media in Jordan and the Arab world, and to see him debate his point of view with such knowledge and confidence was simply awesome.
After the debate, the attendees were invited to a reception dinner and that really was when the fun began, as Laith and I began debating on how to best approach photographers whom we have admired for so long . Do you go up to them and introduce yourself and try to show them your portfolio? Do you wait for a Leica contact to introduce you? We really did not know.
To our surprise it was they who approached us! And I think they did so because of two things, first Naseems excellent contribution to the discussion panel .I also think people were curious to know what three Jordanians were doing at such an event.
Here is the interesting thing about great photographers, while most people would recognize their work, their rarely know how the photographer looks like . So, Laith, Naseem and I were talking when a gentleman appraoched us and asked if we were all from Jordan . He then he asked us if we were Palestinian background .
The man soon followed that question with tales of shooting in Amman before and during Black September in Jordan. He told us of shooting with President Nasser during wartime, of shooting with King Hussein during the course of his 40 plus year rule, of shooting at the offices of Nayif Hawatmeh, George Habash and so on and so forth. The man only introduced himself as Bruno and at one stage, I leaned towards Laith and asked him, “ That cant be Bruno Barbey can it?” soon we asked him, and when he told us he was he reached to get out a business card as if to verify it!
Bruno soon introduced us to Rene Burri, whose first words to us were “ Keffak Habibi “ which in Arabic means “ How are you beloved “ and he too shared with us some remarkable stories about Che Guevara, Castro, Nasser, and King Hussein among others.
This wonderful experience made me realize a few things, first and this goes out to all aspiring photographers, reach out man, if you are fond of a certain photographers work, reach out to them, most of the time you will get a positive response, in the past two years we have gotten some wonderful responses from some of the best photographers in the world, whether it was the Mochilla crew out in LA, Ron Haviv from VII or Magnum in this case. What drives most of these photographers is the search for a better understanding of the world and to capture truths that are seldom seen in mainstream media, so they always welcome additions to their ranks.
Second and this is geared to people in the Middle East, we should no longer contend of being able to say ” the best in Jordan” or “the first to do so and so in the Middle East”, aim for the stars son. At that event I saw first hand how we have bloggers capable of going head to head with photo editors of some of the top publications in the world. The same applies to filmmakers, musicians, writers, producers etc. Stop comparing yourselves and your work with fellow Arabs or people around you, strive for your work to be on the same level of the best who ever done it.
Third, hearing all those wonderful tales about modern Middle Eastern history from, people who were there to witness it, was exciting but it also made me sad, because after all these years, that work has never been shown in our region. Take the work that was done by these photographers in Jordan in the 1960’s and 70’s as an example, most of these events are not even taught in school curriculum in Jordan, and today in the Middle East as we work to shape our future, much of that narrative is missing, its missing from the minds of the people, from the speeches of the reformers and most certainly from the official narrative, so how can we proceed properly and learn from our mistakes of if we even refuse to talk about them?
Lastly, while there have been many great Arab or Middle Eastern photographers in the past and present, none have made it to agencies like Magnum or VII, this is important because most of the significant work in photography has been done in the middle east but it has been missing our own take on the narrative. I hope to see one of us make it one day and I have a feeling that we will witness that soon.
Jean Jacque, thank you once again man, not in our wildest dreams did we ever think we would have this opportunity.
Behind the scenes scenes. Making of ACT II , Nas and Damian .
I know I am being redundant and repetitive but it is something that I feel I have to mention all the time because, well ,its just the right thing to do. .
Once again , we would like to thank our good friends and partners @Leica and @ mochilla for opening up doors to opportunities we know we would not have without them. Special thanks go to Jay electronica for the trust and support he showed us by choosing to work with us , to have our work associated with one of the most sought after rappers in the game is an honor that we hope we can live up to. To the different photographers, editors , directors and producers we worked with this past month , B+ ,Eric Coleman,Michael Park, Byez,Luke Lynch,Jerry Henry ,Andrew Barchilon,Paul McCarthy and Will Quantic, thank you for making this job so much fun and so much easier . For family and friends , we love you.
Last month’s work took us from South Africa to Manchester, first to document the making of one of the most anticipated hip hop albums in history, Jay Electronica’s ACT II . a couple of weeks later , with the same partners in crime, mochilla ,Immortal helped document Nas and Damian Marley tour in Europe, including the opening night at Wembley Arena with the magical Erykah Badu.
Working , shooting and building with some of the best musicians, rappers, producers and photographers in the industry has been surreal at moments, like hearing one of the best beats I have heard in my life drop in a studio in South Africa at 8 am in the morning or standing in the pit in Manchester ,few feet away from Nas and Damian with an M9 , my mind not really grasping what I was capturing .
Did not talk much about South Africa but I think this video that we along with Eric Coleman , shot, edited and produced gives of good indication of how things went down.
Ta7ya Al Gomhoriya Feat MC Amin.
I did this project with the permission from one of my favorite Arab Mcs , MC Amin, I have been waiting for the right moment to release this mini project and I think the time has arrived.
The idea from the project came as I was editing the images while listening to a CD Amin had given me after a photo shoot, I started noticing that my images reflected the same message that Amin had in his lyrics .
Many thanks for my brother Amin for his permission and here is to our brothers in Egypt who have truly done themselves proud.
Lyrics:-
Chorus:translation:
Long live the Arab republic of Egypt whose good people, don’t understand their situation , modern ways of living is all they seek
my nation nation my nation my nation, you have all my love and heartbeen calling it out and yet you remained the sameand the problem is that situation is not letting me remain calm any longer
Verse 1I stood infront of the Palace and looked at the people in Egypt, trying to figure the system , found too many issues to be counted, got shook when I found conversations I become fond of , ones are not found at home, get it stupid?Verse 2Blind imitation in Egyptian youth has become the normHigh school , grade school and graduates kids says they want to become this and that with no sense of direction , calmly look with me and examine this world.Verse 3look at the foreign world thatss invading the republicevery side, every corner invaded with satanic thoughtsthrew our breath of air in the middle of watermade the people think in a different world , forgot out eastern traditionsVerse 4At times when dialogue is needed: in conversations and behavior , in thinking, in expression and in estimation , instead we got extremism, freakiness and blurred vision( pictures shows writing of the world comparing women who don’t wear Hijab to adulterers )Verse 5listen up and pay attention to that son of ++++ of an operationthere are sad people, there are miserable people , there are people who their minds locked in safes and the mind is left to be a decoration inside of a showcaseall wake up and focus with me with my tight words
instead of chilled times and laughter , we got regrets and anger.Verse 6he wants to be free and she wants to be freehe wants to live on another planet and she wants to leave the barrel said a hundred million times , but no one paid attentionthere is something wrong , thats for sure but what is it ( sign in picture read, the route of the idiots )
verse 7
look at where i am coming from, all say who it isshame on you if you don’t know , stay with me listeningMC Amin, a human from the people or you can call me an egyptian from the egyptians that are coming to flip the scalesmy attack is like that of a dragon look at me with two eyesyou will understand everything i have been wanting to say for years , but for right now, all i want to say is good morning to the Egyptians
chorus
my nation nation my nation my nation, you have all my love and heartbeen calling it out and yet you remained the sameand the problem is that situation is not letting me remain calm any longer
to the best of my mental abilities under the influence of the flu
واقف فى القصر, بتفرج على الناس فى مصربشوف اية النظام, لقيت حاجات كتير ملهاش حصرو اتخضيت لما لقيت حوارات كتير ليها اتشديتمش جوة البيت ولا فى الغيط, افهم بس يا عبيط
التقليد العميانى فالشاب المصرى بقى شئ عادىشاب فى ثاناوى رجل مخلص او طفل فى الاعدادىيشوف يقول انا هبقى كدة من غير لا حادى ولا بادىطب عالهادى تعالو معايا نبص كويس فى الدنيا دى
نشوف الدنيا الاجنبية اللى بتغزو الجمهوريةفى كل حتة فى اى جنب بالافكار الشيطانيةرمولنا حاجة الهوا دوبوهالنا وسط الميةخلو الناس فى حتة تانية نسيو عادتنا الشرقية
فالكلام وقت اللزوم فى الحوارات و فى التصرففالتفكير فالتعبير فالتقدير بقى فى تطرفو فى شزوز و مجال الرؤية بقى مهزوزبدل ما تقعد تدحك اتحسر و اضرب انت بوز
اوز يبقى حر و هى عاوزة تبقى حرةعاوز يعيش فى كوكب تانى و هى عاوزة تطلع من الجرةميت مليون مرة قلت و محدش مدينى ودانوفى شئ اكيد غلط بس فين عنوانو
كلو يخلى بالو ان العملية بنت لزينةفى ناس حزينة فى ناس تعيسة فى ناس دماغهة فى الخزينةبس العقل زينة جوة فى الفاترينةكلو يصحى يفوق يركز معايا فى كلماتى المتينة
بصو شوفو جاى منين, كلو يقولى هو مينعيب عليكو مش عارفين, طب خليكو معايا سامعينام سى امين, بنى ادم من البنى ادميناو تقدرو تقولو واحد مصرى من المصريين
اللى جايين عايزين يقلبو الموازيندة هجومى هجوم تنين بصلى بعنيك الاتنينهتفهم كل حاجة انا عاوز اقلها من سنينبس اوانها اهو جة دلوقتى, صباح الفل يا مصريين
تحية الجمهورية العربية المصريةاللى ناسها كويسيين اللى ناسها مية ميةاللى ناسها مش فاهمين, العملية و القضيةدماغهم رايحة فى حتة واحدة, هى الحباة العصرية
تحية الجمهورية العربية المصريةاللى ناسها كويسيين اللى ناسها مية ميةاللى ناسها مش فاهمين, العملية و القضيةدماغهم رايحة فى حتة واحدة, هى الحباة العصرية
بلادى بلادى بلادى لكى حبى و فؤادىبقالى كتير بنادى و الناس كلها عادىبلادى بلادى بلادى لكى حبى و فؤادىبس المشكلة ان الوضع مش مخلينى ابقى هادى
بلادى بلادى بلادى لكى حبى و فؤادىبقالى كتير بنادى و الناس كلها عادىبلادى بلادى بلادى لكى حبى و فؤادىبس المشكلة ان الوضع مش مخلينى ابقى هادى
Immortal Entertainment’s 2011 Video Reel
Over the past year and a half, we have been doing a lot of work in video and production especially in the realm of documenting the movement and culture of Arab hip hop, both in the Middle East and the diaspora. We’ve produced 4 music videos for Omar Offendum, C-Mack from Los Angeles, Arabian Knightz from Egypt and Dj Lethal Skillz in Beirut, two of which will be dropping very soon.
So for the beginning of this year we decided to put together a reel that represents our filming style and approach, our experiences, our travels, the shows we’ve put on in Amman and Beirut, and the visit of Jay Electronica and Mochilla to Jordan and Egypt.
Make sure you watch the video at the highest quality. Enjoy.
“Operation Lost Art” Arabian Knightz ft. DJ Lethal Skillz teaser
A couple of months ago we headed out to Cairo to shoot two music videos for Arabian Knightz….one of the leading hip hop crews in the region.
“Operation Lost Art” is one of those songs and it is off the new album from Dj Lethal Skillz…we ended up shooting in Cairo and Beirut.
The video should be out in the beginning of next year, but till then here is a little teaser for you along with some stills from the making of the video.
This was our feeling at the end of 3 days of shooting in Cairo.
The Jordanian elections: The search for Zion.
Identity is a central element of elections, this is ever so present in Jordan, and with over 50% of our population coming from Palestinian backgrounds, the Palestinian issue is a dominant one in Jordanian politics. The fact that a lot of candidates chose to run on heavily oriented Palestinian issues is a reflection on how many Jordanians feel about their role in society. These candidates and their supporters are second and third generation Jordanians, they were born here, they went to school and work and marry and breed here. So what does it mean when this segment of society speaks of itself as the homeless in election banners? The aspiration to return to a homeland different to the one where the voters and candidates live and practice their political rights, is not problematic, for it to be the focal point on the platform of candidates, is.
The banner reads : All the support and aid for the proponent of the homeless.
Poster on the right : There is no alternative to Palestine but Paradise. Poster on the left : People who leave jihad have succumbed to disgrace . Both posters have a picture of the candidate burning the Israeli flag, he received the largest number of votes in the country.
" The people of Jordan and Palestine sing; Khalil Hussein ( The Candidates Name) the creator of glory and morale lifter, Yafa, Haifa, AL-Lid , Al Ramla and AL Khalil ( All Palestinian town and cities ) are calling on us, there is no replacement for us . No matter how long the days get and how prolonged our abscene from relatives is , victory is coming despite our shortcomings and failures , the blood on the martyr lives in our veins .
For these types of feelings and sentiments to prevail so powerfully, is a worrying and troubling aspect. These candidates seem to seriously imply that such issues are in the control of the Jordanian Parliament. Which would more or less mean that the candidate believes he has a chance to become a member of the most powerful political entity in the world. Also alarming is the fact that most of the supporters come from lower income part of the capital where issues of poverty, sanitation, health and, unemployment public services are very serious issues, yet the electoral platform is built on the promise of a better tomorrow, in a different country. This, I think ,speaks volumes about the levels of uncertainty and despair significant segments of society feel about their future in the country.
All three pictures were taken in Downtown Amman.
Those who curse the mothers of the believers are not believers, a fitting campaign slogan in response to the conditions illustrated above .
This candidate gathered more votes than any other in the kingdom.
The appeal of the Palestinian cause and the increased religiousness of certain segments of society have also been utilized heavily by the Islamists. Officially, the Muslim Brotherhood announced their boycott of the elections, however this led to internal strive within their ranks and subsequently a lot of members resigned and ran either under other Islamic parties or as independents.
While some nationalists tried to utilize the appeal of a better tomorrow in a different homeland, the Islamists focused instead on the appeal of time travel, as was illustrated by the apocalyptic themed and named political support rally, the big crawl.
Shot at an election event for a muslim party candidate. Real nice people.
The Big Crawl, al sahf al kabeer in Arabic, was held in support of a candidate of the Islamic Middle Party, it attracted a considerable crowd of 5000 people, less of 100 were women, an in adherence to what the organizers thing is Islamic customs than go back 1500 years, these women were quarantined in a separate section at the venue. Beards were long and untidy also in accordance to what these supporters believe early Muslims practiced.
A sheikh , took the role of giving the welcoming speech and introducing the speakers, he had mentioned that the speeches were going to be short because there were 30 speakers, none of whom were women. The speakers ranged from retired schoolteachers who were aided by the candidate to obtain a lower income electric bill plan, to engineers and local leaders of spoke of the high integrity of the candidate.
Since a considerable number of Islamists and clerics had declared the participation in elections as a forbidden act in Islam, the candidate needed to justify his participation in religious terms and as such, the host, soon declared that a prominent religious speaks was going to take to the podium next. A few moments after that declaration, the host informed the guests that the religious scholar had fell ill and had instead sent an audio tape in which he explains how it was permissible for the candidate to run. The rationale it seemed was that scholars view elections and participation in them as haram because they system on which they are based on and the laws and regulations that oversee the election were not Islamic and thus are Haram. He then proceeded to explain that such corrupt laws need to be changed into Islamic ones and thus he had lent his support to the candidate in the hope that once in power he will be able to alter election laws to adhere to Islamic laws.
With the watchful eye of the police close by, the rally speakers and the host speaker , walked a very tight rope of political correctness, as required by the laws and regulations, the rally started with the national anthem followed by a short speech by the host speaker, welcoming guests, pledging allegiances to the king and the Hashemite regime and to the Palestinian resistance i.e. Hamas who has continuously exchanged accusations of meddling in internal affairs, smuggling weapons in recent years . Whether these accusations are true or not is irrelevant, the Islamists, at least in their political speech, can and do pledge allegiances to conflicting forces.
The more interesting element of the Islamists and their supporters is the fact that they don’t seem to advocate specific changes; the only visible banner was on that read Islam is the solution. What sort of Islam and what exactly they are advocating is visibly and deliberately missing, and for a very good reason.
The Lawyer , the Haj ( A man who has gone through Islamic pilgrimage ) Yahya Mohammad Al Saoud , the Islamic Direction party Candidate.
The reason I decided to venture to this event , was because of a troubling banner I saw earlier in the day.
Strategically placed banner out side a church in the East side of the city by the same candidate reads : Stop them , for they are responsible, Islam is the Solution.
It is not a surprise that these Islamists don’t venture much into explaining their aims and ideology, for its real aim is to install a vision of separation, us vs. them. Muslims vs. Christian, Liberal, secular and moderate Muslims vs. militant Muslims. One has to ponder, if these are Muslims broke rank with the Muslim Brotherhood because they viewed the MB as too extreme, what are the visions of those Islamists?
The fact that both featured candidates won is troubling on many aspects, having significant number of citizens believing and aspiring to have better future in some other homeland and running on a religiously militant Islamic platform that promotes exclusion and us vs. the world mindset is not good news for this country.
However there are some serious problems in society that lead to this sort of thinking and application. Newspapers, TV stations, magazine and online websites have failed miserably to scrutinize candidates and their platforms. At the Islamists event, I did not see a single photographer or a journalist, if there were any, I seriously doubt they covered the event with the sort of critical eye needed to fully relate to the voter what their candidates are all about. The incitement of hate and segregation in Jordan is forbidden by the constitution and the media has a huge role to put pressure on the government to adhere to its own laws. I am sure the churchgoers and the priests and nuns of this particular church had seen the banner, and the fact that it was not removed, is mind-boggling.
The fact that these sort of candidates generated considerable support is also indicative of the failure of tribal Jordanians, left parties and East Bankers in general to put forward any sort of inclusive, progressive political platforms that 1) attracts significant following that cuts through social status, religion and background 2) Confronts such agendas with adequate, alternative ones that seek to solve this country’s problems instead of exporting them to dreamland elsewhere. The Government in Jordan has a huge role to play in this process. With very strict controls and restrictions on the activities of political and social activists ,the government, has in effect emptied the political scene from any sort of political opposition, and while Palestine first and Islamists do have a considerable following, the fact is most Jordanians of different backgrounds have not fallen under that spell ( as illustrated by the low voter turn out of 35 % and the fact that even the candidate that received the most votes only got 14000 votes ), however the political scene remains there to be captured by both forces as long as the government policies stand in the way of the formation and development of alternative political, social and economic parties, groups and activists.
Tribal Jordanians ran on platforms that almost entirely rely on the appeal of tribe loyalty, with no clear political, social or economic agendas expect the promise of serving the tribe, this approach is most certainly not an inclusive one nor one that puts the interest of society before ones tribe, that is not to say that there are certain tribal members who won ,are actually not good candidates but because they chose to run on tribal lines, they have very little appeal and support from outside the tribe.
The candidate , with the white head dress , is a tribal leader, he had over 70 banners hanging in his HQ, all announcing loyalty to him, none had any political or social messages.
Supporters of a tribal candidate in Madaba, dancing away to national songs about the army and king, with no obvious indicators of the candidates political view, the dancing crowd were waving posters of the candidates name , only.
Though a highly qualified candidate , the reliance on tribal votes , forced tribal candidates to run on " lame" slogans such as this one: Yes, the nation is for everyone.
Yes its true, all the respect ! only in Jordan would a bunch of words thrown together form a political slogan, he might as well write : Fish, blue, Bart Simpson.
Candidates who ran on some real life agendas have managed to get considerable support that transends tribal and religious boundries . As illustrated by the picture taken by friend of mine .
A christian mother , celebrates her son's election with a muslim friend.
Candidates and platforms like this, ones that offer inclusiveness and focus on every day problem faced by all Jordanians is the only way we, as a society can achieve any sort of reform, the burden is on civil society and the government to nurture and promote such agendas, otherwise the mass appeal of Islamists, tribal leaders and ultra nationalists will continue to grow and capture the minds and imagination of the masses.
For three Fridays before the election, I spent my afternoons with a young group of guys that hail from the lower income areas of the capital, they had launched a face book initiative that entailed them cleaning up a different part of the city each Friday, most of them are also of Palestinian background. Their group on face book has more than 75,000 members, (a telling number when many candidates won by gather 3000 and 4000 votes only) these guys are socially active, and have a decent command of English and social media tools, and a decent level of education. The median age in Jordan is 23 and most of these guys were in that age group. Not a single one of them voted in this last election, mainly because they don’t feel that they’re any candidates that address their problems, concerns and aspirations. When I asked one of them what he thought of the Palestine First and Islamists agenda he replied ” This is all B.S, before we even think of Palestine we need to fix this place up”.
Most Jordanians share this view I think and the attitude of the youth towards elections, candidates and reform in the country is best summarized by the posture and look of this man.
At a rally for a tribal candidate with hundreds of participants dancing to nationalistic songs , the man to me symbolizes the political apathy Jordanians feel.
The Jordanian Elections: Coming soon
Shot at an election event for a muslim party candidate. Real nice people.
Leica Interviews: Hip hop, Jay Electronica and more.
Lately Leica has been conducting a series of interviews with Laith and I , and I have to say some of these questions were the hardest Ive ever had to answer, at least since calculus II back in university. We would like to thank Jason Schneider, Helen Todd and ofcourse our man @ Leica Jean-Jacques.Viau.
Enjoy
http://blog.leica-camera.com/interview/nasser-kalaji-beyond-documenting-the-arab-hip-hop-movement/
http://blog.leica-camera.com/interview/nasser-kalaji-“my-photography-is-rapping-through-images-”/
Immortal Entertianment Present “Destiny” Omar Offendum’s first solo music video.
We are proud to present to you our first music video “Destiny” off of Omar Offendum’s “SyrianamericanA” his debut solo album.
The video was shot on location in Los Angeles and Beirut, and was a one man job by Laith Majali. What started as an experiment with his new camera ended up being what you see today. We are happy that we are continuing our collaboration with artist such as Omar Offendum and please keep an eye on the blog as we are going to be announcing some exciting events we are organizing in Beirut and Amman in July.
The photograph on the cover of the album was shot by Laith Majali in Damascus , and is part of his ongoing project documenting the world of Arab Hip Hop.
“SyrianamericanA” can be purchased @ https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/OmarOffendum
and for more Offendum links check out:
Interview with DIA MAGAZINE
Though I am a bit disappointed that the good folks at DIA magazine did not use the whole interview , I am still happy that they took the time and went through the trouble of interviewing me, I also really like what they are doing over there in terms of getting Arab artists exposure in London.
For the full interview pls visit them @
The Foundry Photojournalism workshop, Istanbul 2010
By : Nasser Kalaji
I just came back from attending this workshop, in short, it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. ( the combination of this opening statement and the above picture is not the smartest way start a blog entry, when you have a girlfriend that is, unless she is super cool and supportive like mine is ) that was smooth was not it?
Not only did I learn a lot from a techinical point of view, for me, the personal experience was just immense, moments that will stay with me forever , like meeting Hatem Moussa, the Associated Press photographer in Gaza, a man who is largely resposible for most of the images that relats to the tragedies that occur in Gaza, the images that make us Arabs cringe, protest, cry, sad , feel helpless and agnry, a man who puts his own life on the line in order to capture the truth .For me to be present on his first trip out of Gaza in ten years and see first hand , the sort of respect and reverence he is held in the photographers community was truly special.
My instructor at the workshop was the legendary Ron Haviv , I don’t need to spend much time writing about the man’s work, he is, after all ,one of the all time greats , but from a personal point of view , for a man who has achieved so much, to take the time and put in the sort of effort he has, going over our portfolios and offering us advice , direction and know how ,was very humbling and inspirational . I believe that a photographer’s work is largely shaped by his or her personality and character, after spending a week with Ron, I now understand why he has had that sort of success and career . Thank you sir.
The diversity of photographers present at class was yet another amazing dimesnion to the workshop , with students from India, U.S, Bosnia, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt , Indonesia, Spain and Slovenia all offering us a very diverse , rich and different approaches to photography, I would like to thank all my class mates for just being really cool people and for teaching me so much about photography.
You walk away from such experiences with lessons, and the more I work I do in photography, music and film the more I am convicned of what one of my idols and friends B + once taught me, art is about contribution rather than competition.This was ever so evident in this workshop. Being awarded a scholarship to this workshop means so much more to me now .( p.s That kernel of wisdom was gleaned from Horace Tappscott, a Jazz pianist from LA who stopped working for the music Industry and went to work for the community)
I now leave you with some pictures I took during my short stay in Turkey.
Man of the hour, Laith Majali
A few weeks ago , on facebook, I saw a series of photographs called Cairo this on Leica’s facebook fan page, in response I submitted a few pictures and called them Cairo that, Leica liked the idea and started a competition called ” Eternal Cairo” , I told Laith about it and he submitted an entry , my entry did not go through cause of internet connection problems, for some reason that did not upset me as much as I thought it would, dont mean to be cocky but I had a feeling that one of us was going to win anyways and if my entry did not go through then I was certain that Laith would win it.
The man never disappoints .
Immortal Entertainment projects 2010
A lot of people have been asking us about what is it that we do exactly and what projects we have lined up. Well not really ,I just like to make it seem that there are people out there interested in our work.
Anyways here is a brief about all the projects we are currently involved in.
After the enormous success of Laith’s first feature film as a producer and an editor, Captain Abu Raed, ( Winner of the Sundance Audience award 2008 as well as 27 other international awards) , he and I teamed up to form Immortal Entertainment with the vision to cultivate and incubate different projects in film, photography and music. The basis on which our platform was built was that we will seek to work on projects that deal with the realities of problems and issues in the Arab world. Basically we are inspired by the realties of the urban landscape of the world we live in.
Film:
1- Abandoned :I began working on developing the synopsis for our first feature film in late 2008. The working title of the film is “Abandoned” . It tells a story about orphans and the underworld in Amman, when I had a clear vision of what the story line was going to be, we called upon the skills of amazingly talented Nizar Wattad, a Palestinian -American screen writer who gratefully accepted to spend six weeks with us developing the treatment for the film. The treatment has generated a considerable amount of interest in the region, Europe and America and we hope that by the end of this year we will be able to sign a deal to start the pre-production for the film.
2-Voice of the Valley tells the inspiring story of two Muslim Jordanian women Asma, 26, and Munira, 25. Despite the government’s refusal to issue them a license, with no formal journalistic training, and having had to face backlash from men in their community, they produce and broadcast a groundbreaking social and political radio program from Amman called “Voice of the Valley.”Through their radio program they expose the many issues that negatively affect the inhabitants of the Jordan Valley, a severely neglected agricultural region in Jordan.This film also strives to highlight the detrimental problems facing the men, women and children living in the Jordan Valley such as the water shortage, poverty, corruption within the local government, and neglect—problems which have not been addressed by governmental officials in Amman, the capital city.Immortal is working with two truly remarkable , talented, brave and visionary American film directors Leila Jarman and Elspeth Dehnert who were also crazy enough to travel to the Middle East without speaking a word of Arabic and started working on this project on their own. The efforts of these two women are truly humbling and we are very grateful for the chance to work with them. Immortal’s involvement in the film is extensive, we are handling the post production phase, Laith is also editing the film and through our local contacts and understanding of the country and its culture we were able to link Asma and Munira with the highest government officials whose minisitries and deparments are directly responsible for conditions in the Jordan Valley . Immortal does not simply seek projects that expose problems and issues in the region , we set out to find solutions for these issues and conncect people who are in position to bring about change.
Music:-
Our involvement in hip hop movement is very interesting , because when we set out to do this project the aim was to document the movement, now we are producing music videos, photo essays , organizing shows , connecting musicians , visual artists, DJs and rappers together , locally and internationally. We are no longer just documenting the movement ,we are at the very heart of it all.
As of now we are currently working on projects with MC Amin , Arabian Knightz, Ahmad Fishawi, DJ Lethal Skillz and Omar Offendum, producing music videos for them as well as several other projects.. The Legendary DJ Lethal Skillz of Beirut is also working with us on several fronts, through him we are producing mix tapes, music videos and promotions for his upcoming album . He is also co-producing an album for one of the most promising young rappers out there, this album will be an Immortal entertainment product.
On the international scene, Immortal made history when it brought out the legendary Mochilla crew out to the Middle East for the first time, introducing them to artists in Beirut and Amman , and throwing what is without a doubt the best two hip hop shows to be ever held in Amman and Beirut, building on that success , Immortal will be working with Mochilla again this summer in July , when we hope to host the Mochilla crew along with some memebers of their extended family out in LA for a regional tour that will include shows, building with local rappers, musicians and DJ’s through jam sessions etc. This will be the musical event of the summer in the region, we promise you this, if you thought those January shows were amazing then prepare to get your minds blown away in July.
Photography:
Laith Majali: Photography for me is more than just snapping pictures, photography is my window to life. I spend my time roaming the streets of the world looking for moments to capture and freeze in time, I look for interactions between human beings, and through that i come to understand the world I live in. I picked up photography seriously in 2005 and since then I have traveled the world documenting the human condition. I take a special interest in culture and social documentary work. Over the past 3 years I have been working on my first photography book, which focuses on the rise of Arab Hip Hop world wide. My work has been featured in international and regional magazines and I’ve had my work exhibited in Jordan, London, Italy , Egypt and the US.
Last year I got one of the most difficult assignments I had to shoot so far. I was to shadow HM King Abdullah of Jordan for a month and photograph him for the royal archives. This project has been one of the most challenging but one of the most fulfilling experiences too.
I still love shooting film, I photograph with a selection of old and new cameras and I still believe I got lots to learn.
You can see some of my personal work on : http://lmajali.wordpress.com
Nasser Kalaji
I bought my first camera in Oct 2009, in March 2010 , after going online with my work for two weeks, I was contacted by Leica , the worlds finest camera maker to work on the V lux 20 project with them. In April I was lucky enough to be awarded a schoalrship by the Foundary photojournalism workshop which is made up from the finest photojournalists in the world. I will be attending their workshop in June this year.
I am a lucky fool , the laptop I am using to write this entry is about half the yearly income of an avergage citizen in my country. I studied in private schools and for higher education I went abroad, opportunities that are seldom available for most of my fellow citizens and as such I feel that it is my duty to document the conditions and realities of those who are less fortunate wherever I travel. Since Oct I documented conditions on the streets of Indonesia, Thailand, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, England, Holland and Germany . My work can be viewed on our blog. , on Leica’s travel website .com and here . My photography will also be featured in travel magazine in the UK next month.
Lastly we would like to thank all our friends, families and fellow artists who have shown us immense support, encouragement , constructive criticism and love.
You taking pride in our work means the world to us , more than anything it pushes us to keep on delivering work that makes all those who are assocaited with us proud.
Immortal , coming soon to a mind near you.
Nasser Kalaji and Laith Majali.
Leica X1 Street photography, Cairo the X-FILES.
For the past month or so I have been using the Leica V LUX 20 , I have not really used my other cameras much because of Leica project. A couple of days ago I heard about an interesting area to shoot near the Pyramids in Giza, so I decided to stop by the Pyramids and take a few shots, I had all three of my Leicas with me, and since I was looking for a vivid image I took out the Leica X 1 and snapped a few pictures, then I got in the taxi and was heading toward the Giza neighborhoods and I still had the X 1 so I decided I should try using it from the car , one of these shots I am almost certain is among the first photos of the Pyramids ever to be taken with the X1, I took a few more pics from the car and a few hours later when the batteries on my V LUX 20 D-LUX 4 ran out I took the X1 out again and took a couple of what I think are pretty good photos.
Clash of civilization
Never expected the shot to come out this sharp, from a moving car .Neither was I aware of the condition this poor man is in.
The shop.
THE LEICA V LUX 20, “REAL” LIFE REVIEW Beirut BY NASSER KALAJI
Almost 60% of the Arab population is under the age of 25 , Hip Hop is their weapon of choice when it comes to voicing out their frustrations , conditions, aspirations, fears, hopes , thoughts and feelings. When I met up with Yassin of I voice last week in Beirut I wanted him to show me the conditions in Palestinian refugee camps, the conditions that influence him to do hip hop, Yassin took me to two camps, the Sabra and Shatilla camps where the infamous massacare occured in 1982 and the Burj AL Barajneh camps , where he lives. Both camps are dominated by different Palestinian and Lebanese groups, Hamas, the PLO, the popular front for the liberation of Palestine , Fateh, Amal and Hizballah are the main players .
It is impossible to take photos freely in the camps, further more the camps are divided according to groups, each group has one or two centers , outside these centers you have guards carrying AK 47 among others weapons , the alleys and streets in the camps also have informants , members and affiliates of the different groups, snapping away with your camera is out of the question , and these members are not the sort to settle with taking away your cameras or film, when you walk in their areas they inspect you from head to toe as you pass them by, they also stare directly in your direction hoping for direct eye contact.S basically the mission on hand was to take photos in an area dominated by frustrated, wronged, hopeless and armed youths that belong to militant armed groups.Nice.
When we were contacted by Leica to do this project I asked our contact there what was so special about this camera and his answer was superior zoom in capabilities, now I don’t claim to be an expert in photography Ive been doing this for six months but from the research I have done I can tell you this, photography, serious photography that is that includes war, conflict, street and documentary photography has been primarily shaped by the innovations of Leica, So with that mind , how would this new innovation perform in the hands of an inexperienced photographer under such conditions? I think the fact that I old started doing this six months ago is very significant because if the images taken are good then you cannot just credit the photographer . Someone left a comment on our blog last week saying they rather buy the Olympus Pen instead of this product from Leica, I own that camera, and I own the old model as well, and while its a great camera the V LUX 20 can do things that Olympus simply cannot do. You can not take the sort of photos I am about to show you here with the PEN because its size and noise will surely draw the attention of the guards and different people in the camp. do you really want to get into an argument with an 18 year old PLO member cause you want the high resolution that the Pen has to offer? The V lux has the zooming advantage , it has the size advantage , it has the silent shutter advantage and the resolution of its images are good enough , yes the Pen has better resolution but I am not shooting sunsets . the fact of the matter that there is no other camera out there on the market this size, this small that can do what this Leica does. some suggested that the Panasonic one is similar , I don’t know cause I have not tried it.
Yassin and I took a cab to the camps, on the way I saw this graffiti , translated it means no to sectarianism, in Lebanon that phrase pretty much sums up the political situation of the past 35 years in the country.
The wiring again, I have written about this before , the electrical wires are laid and hung together along with the water lines, these lines are made out of plastic, they easily leak,a number of people die each and every year in the camps because of this.
Politics, religion , football = life
We entered the market just outside the Sabra and Shatila camp. Almost everything you can think of is one sale, from national flags to hardcore porn.
No comment.
This was indeed a sobering moment, Yassin tells me , I have to show you this and points towards something to our right, he goes on to tell me that we are going to visit the burial site on the Sabra and Shatilla massacre of 1982 , so we walk into a huge yard , I see different signs , this is one of them, behind the signs there is a huge wall, so I wonder where the graves are , as I get ready to take the picture I ask him where are they buried, he answers …… we are standing on them.
Though the massacre took place in Palestinian camps , Yassin explains that Lebanese families also vanished , this sign is dedicated to one family who by my count of the images lost 23 family members.
You would not think that a music store would have the picture of Hassan Nasrallah hanging on its walls.Well, here you do.
We passed by this location twice on our way in and out , I took this on the way in, on the way out ,I saw a little kid stop by it , go through some garbage and walk away with this
My guess is , he is off to sell it somewhere.
Kids of all sorts of age do manual labor in the camp.
The streets of the Arab world are full of a contradictions, in the prolifically charged camps this is ever so evident, on the left there is a poster commemorating the death of an Islamic Jihad leader by the Israelis and on the right album covers and pictures of Nancy Ajram the sex symbol in the Arab world along with other pop artists and also one of Sameer Ghanim one of the most famous Arab comedians .
I love this art work, the title of the piece is Mamlakat al Tanak, translated it means the kingdom of zinc, in ref to the housing conditions people live under.
This slogans says, the Palestinian camp is a place of your temporary residence keep its……. the last word has a poster on top of it but one can make out what the word was still, its cleaniness, I like the fact that the word is covered by the poster.
I think music , specially hip hop and rap ,has had the most influence on my style of photography, when you listen to a song that’s full of brilliant word play or a jazzy beat from madlib you sort of zone in to the song, photography allows you to turn that zoning out into art. I almost always have my I-Pod on when shooting, this time however I had Yassin in my ear ,I was basically getting a socio economic , political breakdown of the camp, before we entered this area which is under the control of the PLO, I asked Yassin about the political affiliations of the camp youth, Yassin explained to me that the situation varies from camp to camp and in Bur Al Barajneh where he is from kids stay together from grade one until they graduate and thus form very strong bonds of friendship . Further ,he explained , that because of this the kids , teenagers and young adults in the camp , pretty much share the same world views , he went on to add that the problems and divisions that exist in the camp are because of the differences within the older refugees. He also added that a lot of the young members that belong to militant groups do so because of financial reasons ( these groups give salaries , medicine and other privileges to its memebers) He laughed as he told me how these youngsters switch allegiances when their salaries are late.Yassin warned me several times not to take picture in the this area , and this is where the Leica V-LUX 20 showed its worth, because of its size I was able to use it, because of its superior zoom in capabilities I did not need to move very close to my subjects. The fact that I walked away with several good shots in the span of 45-60 seconds is a testament to the camera taking into account that I am an amateur street photographer.Camera are all about what they can deliver in real life situations, and in this instance the Leica V LUX 20 showed its an awesome weapon to have in your arsenal.
The way street photography is going , with all the talent out there , with all the subjects that have been covered, photographers who want to break through in the industry and maintain their statues are venturing into deeper , gritier , streets, camps , slumps , ghettos and locations, this work would not be what it is without these shots and it would not have been possible to take these shots without the Leica V LUX 20 .
I love the irony in the message ,yet another poster from hamas , yet another call for martyrdom, how about we fix some wires, I mean like seriously people, not the govt, the 99999 different groups in the camps, not the UN, no one has managed to fix this problem? Should not the Israelis also take responsibility of its actions here?
What impressed me most is that I was able to actually frame shots and I got exactly what i wanted , In the one below I wanted to shoot Yassin approaching the PLO members, I wanted to capture that division between the sunlight and the shadows, I wanted to show my belief ,that its kids like Yassin who are going to battle the powers of darkness in our society, I wanted the vein on his left arm to show and I managed to do all of that with a camera that fits into my pocket. To me that’s what Leica is all about.
I like symbolic shots and this is one . On the wall you have posters from Hamas , they show the picture of murdered member and the words “martyrdom is life “, in the middle you have the old man trying to make a living and on the bottom right a girl who bumped into me accidently and appears to be ducking down politely trying to get out of the way for the shot , and in doing so end up appearing as if she is scarred from the realities surrounding her, the Palestinian struggle, militants, the hard life awaiting her as a Palestinian woman refugee.
Perhaps the most dividing figure in Arab politics Yassir Arafat picture still hangs in certain areas in the camp.
One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter
The best part of the hour and a half I spent with Yassin was at the very last
As he was walking me out of the camp , I was walking in front of him and saw a this little kid looking back at Yassin, when Yassin came closer he approached him and asked him for an album , Yassin then put his hand on the kids shoulder and pointed his house to him and told him to go there to get a free copy of it. The hustle of Yassin has managed to get him acceptance to study music industry in Canada, he is leaving in a few days , yet that moment showed me that he has planted the seeds for a politically aware, conscious , community based ,hip hop movement that will ,I hope ,produce a whole new generation willing to live for a cause rather than die for it. And I think Yassin knows what he has managed to do, that look of determination in the last picture says it all.
Hip hop is dead? Not in these streets.
All the best of luck brother.
Nasser
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