still here
I’m here. I can just be incredibly inconsistent (as some have noted) with my posts. But I have been taking pictures. And I am also, hopefully, going on vacation soon which will be well needed. Last night I took pics of the light bridge opening ceremony. Not a big deal at all, but I was there three times over the course of the day. So in energy terms it was a bigger deal. I think I’m also just really tired after Sarkozy’s visit and now understand why people take beach holidays. Vegging out sounds so very very good right now. In other news, for people that know me from NY, Lauren had her baby and I am extremely excited to meet her son Will. So amazing!
Watching a rehersal of acrobats for the opening ceremony of the light bridge…
Light bridge and balloons!
Gazafied
I’m stuck in Gaza. Not the first time, and definitely not the last. I came down to do a fuel crisis story, which I’ll write about at another time, cause that’s just totally crazy too — I will say two words about that story — vegetable oil. Just crazy. Anyway, that’s not what I want to write about today.
Today I’m a bit bitter. Like I said, I came down for two days to do this feature (which is great, cause we never get to spend two days on a feature, let alone in Gaza) and then I was supposed to leave yesterday. Funny how things never go as planned down here. Yesterday morning at around 6am a large truck attempted to blow itself up at Erez, the crossing where journalists and others come through. It didn’t get there, but it did blow up close enough that some damage was sustained and now Erez is closed. Possibly until today, but more likely until Sunday, or if we are really lucky sometime next week.
So yesterday I went to a Hamas protest on another crossing point, Karni. One person was killed, and I ended up doing their funeral. These pics are of the mother. In these situations I always feel the worst for the women. And it kinda puts everything in perspective too…
Front of the IHT
So, I don’t usually know when pics get play, but another photographer here informed me last night that one of mine from the Naqba rally yesterday was on the front of the International Herald Tribune. I have definitely gotten play on the front before, but I don’t think its ever been above the fold. And the pic is pretty big! So here it is. It’s not one of the ones I chose to post yesterday on my blog, but I did like it a lot. I like it a bit more sedated in color so that it looks more monocrome, so I’ll post it now the way I like it as well.
Front of the IHT…
More muted…
Orange
My friend Matthew has a sense of humor that tends to come out in his photographs, which I think is one of the hardest things to evoke in an image.
He took this pic of me in my apartment in Cairo and sent it to me with the line
“Framing. Never my strong suit…”
-photo by Matthew Carrington
Naqba
Today I went up north. All the way near the Lebanese border to a little village outside of Nazareth. While Israelis celebrate 60 years of independence, Palestinians and Israeli Arabs mark the occasion where their land was taken. So there have been a few ceremonies and performances around the West Bank and Israel commemorating this day, and I was sent up north for this purpose. Interestingly enough, the performance to me felt like a reverse Thanksgiving pagent. Like as if the Indians were telling their side of the story. It definitely had that feel to it. Anyway, as always I’m obsessed with the women, so that is of course what my favorite pictures were.
Amazing sky tonight. And the women were praying in the spotlights used for the performances, which helped. Really really really like the light on them. For others check out the photos that I sent to the wire cause I had more that a few that I really liked…
Prayer in a line…
Segregated sections…
Jaffa
Doing some extra pics for the 60th anniversary celebration that starts tomorrow. I went to Jaffa today which is this really cool little area outside of Tel Aviv. Lovely flea market and old men sitting out sunning themselves…
Silhouettes on the beach
I went to the beach to take pics for the 60th anniversary. Got some nice fun silhouettes.
Okay, check out where the sailboat is positioned. I think its funny even if no one else does…
Children playing in the surf. Nothing happier than that…
I don’t think this one perfectly works, but I like the contrasting feet above and below ground level…
