Tag: photography

by jad

Lebanon: Day 2

Weaving through the “Sunday Souk” (also open on Saturdays) isn’t exactly a “shock” to the senses (I’m not an orientalist writing paeans to the grand bazaar), but it certainly is a vibe. There’s one surreal sensory dimension to this Souk that I could never handle for more than a couple of minutes: multiple pre-recorded messages on tiny squawk-boxes and megaphones repeating the latest deals over and over and over and over in the same deadpan monotone. They made me laugh but I could easily see my sanity slip away if I had to endure that for a whole day. I … Continue reading “Lebanon: Day 2” →

by jad

Lebanon: Day 1

We went up to my hometown yesterday. I wanted to visit the different spots my dad liked to visit – a pilgrimage, of sorts. He didn’t have the strength to take us around the usual places last year, but I’m glad that our last and only excursion together before he lost all capacity to move was back to the land of our fathers. A strange land with surrealist characteristics, but the only place on God’s black and red earth that will never call me a stranger and always welcome me home. I joke about how I came back to bring … Continue reading “Lebanon: Day 1” →

by jad

My Brain’s War Correspondent

People’s reactions to my trip to Lebanon have been thematically consistent. Most tell me that they’re thinking of me and praying for me; some say that they’ll miss me; even those who don’t know my reasons for travel have responded with a mix of investment and alarm. That’s a product of Lebanon’s place in the headlines since my last trip, I suppose. It’s been sweet to receive these sentiments, but the cumulative effect of it all is a mild sense of foreboding. Do people know something I don’t? Will I not make it back? What’s going on? That sense is … Continue reading “My Brain’s War Correspondent” →

by jad

Red December

Behold the lambBehold the lambNot one stoneAtop another will stand. There have been a couple more full circle moments lately. New starts to old ends; resets with fresh means. This is one of them; a return to trying again. Taken at the second session of the @seattledsa new member winter cohort. They used my camera to take a group shot too but posting that one isn’t my style. Also: remember the communist I bumped into at Folklife? The one I took a portrait of with the Polaroid Go I’d borrowed? I finally popped into one of the cell meetings she … Continue reading “Red December” →

by jad

Black Friday in Bellingham (Again)

When we drove up to Canada last year, we didn’t stop to linger at the border; with nothing special planned for the long weekend beyond some R&R in Bellingham, I jumped on the opportunity to come up here after connecting over a film swap with @night_bydesign. I took about 20 frames here with @christine.bingham.art, and finished the rest in Bellingham. Bellingham is where I did my half of my first (and last) swap with @____liturgy__ for #AdventWord a while back, so it felt like a full circle moment too. Don’t ask me what it all means though. x This is … Continue reading “Black Friday in Bellingham (Again)” →

by jad

Imprints of Instants

My morning walks to work are a lot less stimulating these days, now that I don’t crest the whole of Capitol Hill to get there; it’s a shorter jaunt, but much more sedate, given the neighborhood. I see the same things over and over, with barely a soul around, save for the constant mill of nannies and maintenance workers, tending to the properties of the rich while they go for a run or shuffle through their remaining retirement years. I see the same things over and over, so I notice the passing of time more acutely, when banal scenes suddenly … Continue reading “Imprints of Instants” →

by jad

It Was Only Day One

This morning, I informed yet another set of community members of my father’s passing, and we exchanged pleasantries over bacon and eggs, which was nice, but generally within standard procedure. But one elderly gentleman surprised me with a question: “were you close or estranged?” I answered with something about that liminal space in between, sharing a little about the tensions of being back home over Christmas knowing that it would be the last, trying to deepen the connection but failing. He offered a coffee date to talk about it 1-1 some more, if I wanted, and shared a little about … Continue reading “It Was Only Day One” →

by jad

I Grieve The Son

This photo is mostly generative AI. I found a tiny thumbnail of a time before core memory, a mere 960 x 899 pixels and 336 kilobytes of perhaps the most important document in our possession, and ran it through Photoshop’s “generative extend” tool, because I barely recognized it. It was already uncanny. There’s my mother and father, but who is that child? I asked mom and she, with a slight hint of urgency, solved the mystery: “Habibiii it’s youu.” It just didn’t look real. Even the kid looks mildly suspicious. So, I ran the generative fill again and again until … Continue reading “I Grieve The Son” →

by jad

So Much Love in Me

I heard a live recording of Depeche Mode’s So Much Love for the first time today that amplifies the level of menace to the lyrics that’s in the original version, though much less viscerally and in your face: I can’t runI have triedThere’s a thornIn my sideThere is somethingI can’t hide There is so much love in me. Dave’s voice sounds angry against the mechanical rum-pum-pum beat that’s a lot more spartan and martial than the original mix, giving the whole a charged air of protest. There is something so resonant in this for me. I have said this a … Continue reading “So Much Love in Me” →

by jad

Seattle on Belomo Agat18K

“Pictures… are not just inert objects, but lively, active forms that engage us on a deeply emotional level, often in ways that we do not fully understand or control.” (W.J.T. Mitchell, What Do Pictures Want?) Earlier this month, I walked the whole way down Madison Street from Madison Park to the Waterfront, and then through Pike Place, which is something I wanted to do before I ever heard of the new Rapid Ride Route G that very nearly does the same thing. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to test out the Belomo Agat18K half-frame camera. I’d specifically asked the … Continue reading “Seattle on Belomo Agat18K” →