Category: Poiesis

by jad

Thereness & Hereness

Yesterday, I used the word “thereness” to express how I look at the world photographically, but that’s a retrospective notion – in the moment of decision, the feeling is best captured by “hereness” – here I stand, I cannot do otherwise, so help me God. I’ve noticed this before, whenever I’ve walked through familiar places with a camera in hand; somehow, the world makes itself manifest in a different light that way. But a photo walk with others doing the same adds yet another dimension: the rhythm becomes corporate, a pooling of a liturgy of attention that’s more than idiosyncratic. … Continue reading “Thereness & Hereness” →

by jad

Aquarian Eye

“Many people, when writing about photography say that it always shows what we already know—that which is common knowledge. I think this assertion should be corrected to say instead: photography always shows what we think we know.” (Luigi Ghirri) I woke up today to a message from a Lebanese visual artist that rattled me a little, given that we’d never interacted before, and that I respect their work. It said, in response to a thing about astrology I’d thrown up in my stories: “The aqua moon explains how I can never grasp your point of view through your photography. Not … Continue reading “Aquarian Eye” →

by jad

Beirut on Harman Phoenix

I really like the violent contrast and saturation that comes out of this Harman Phoenix film. I took these with a Nikon Lite-Touch point and shoot because I wanted to be “lite” on my feet while walking around Beirut, and I think that really added to the raw quality of some of these photos: whatever makes this stock undesirable to professionals (something something dynamic range) makes it perfect for how I wanted to see this city. I loved this Hamra ready-made so much that I photographed it twice; here it is on Harman Phoenix 200, the world’s newest experimental color … Continue reading “Beirut on Harman Phoenix” →

by jad

Origin Story (Still in Progress)

I took this on my first ever photowalk today, using the digicam I brought back from Lebanon. I’m glad I brought it along, because it was -9 °C out and I could barely operate my other camera for more than a couple minutes at a time. I very quickly learned that I had the wrong gloves and lenses for staying nimble on a day like today. So, what was I thinking going out on one of the coldest days of the year to cosplay as photographer? I was thinking that I need to start getting out of my own way … Continue reading “Origin Story (Still in Progress)” →

by jad

Bride of Beirut

This is “Bride of Beirut,” a sculpture that sits “just 675 meters away from the epicenter of the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast” and commemorates that tragic event with rubble and debris salvaged from the site. It was inspired by the designer’s harrowing experience of fearing for a loved one’s safety that day: “For 10 minutes we didn’t know what was happening because there was no cellular connection.” I hadn’t heard of this artwork when I stumbled on it on my last day in Beirut and found it arresting, though oddly arranged. Like something was missing. The installation had … Continue reading “Bride of Beirut” →

by jad

Must It Be? It Must.

Before heading to Lebanon, I wondered about how it’d feel to see just how much of what I’d known had changed, and Christine wondered back: how will it feel to see how much of what I’d known is still the same? The answer to both those wonderings was “yes.” Yes, a lot has changed, and much of it saddened me, but shockingly a lot had not. Even my old haunts in Mar Mikhael, so badly affected in the blast, still feature familiar sites and names, despite it all. This gladdened my heart. So many had bounced back. And Hamra, more … Continue reading “Must It Be? It Must.” →

by jad

New Year’s Eve, 2023

There’s been an odd circularity to this year; an ouroboros of inner work that opened and is now closing the year on themes of loving others more deeply by tending more gently to oneself. Lully, lulla,thou little tiny child,by by, lully lullay. That hymn made me weep on the First of January and today, on the Thirty-First of December, the symmetry was not lost on me when I was asked to read these lines from a once-familiar lectern: “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”” … Continue reading “New Year’s Eve, 2023” →

by jad

Christine’s Project: Mizyara

Today, I had the privilege of visiting a most unique shrine with the most touching story, a living tribute to not just one saint, but two—Maria Goretti and her unlikely acolyte, Raya Chidiac. It was an honor to be greeted by Raya’s mother, Marie, who has made it her ministry to share St. Goretti’s message of universal forgiveness through the heartbreak of losing her daughter Raya in a cruel parallel across centuries. And when she says “through” Raya, she means it quite literally: it was Raya who came to a stranger in a dream, asking for a shrine to be … Continue reading “Christine’s Project: Mizyara” →

by jad

Christine’s Project: Beirut

“Beirut, I want to escape you, only to crawl back a few days later and embrace you.” These are a couple of digicam test shots from this morning’s shoot with my sister @staceybkl who so kindly took part in @christine.bingham.art‘s ongoing photo-documentation project of her “saints in the mirror.” Don’t tell anyone that I didn’t bring my Fuji’s charger and was rationing shots on a single bar of battery all day. Oops! Thankfully, we still managed to make it happen thanks to Stacey and Antoun!

by jad

Hamra Haunts

We’re spending a couple of nights in one of my old haunts which oddly feels pretty much exactly how I’d left it, despite a lot having changed. There’s a Hamra Express where Dany’s Pub once was, and the patronage seems to have aged by several decades, but that’s about it – the vibes are still classically Hamra. As seen through my Canon PowerShot A710IS, straight out of camera. See also: x