Class Act: Ahmad El-Fishawy photos in new issue of Nox

If you are in Amman, Beirut, Dubai or Bahrain, check out my shoot with Egyptian actor Ahmad El-Fishawy. You can read the article online too, but there is only one of the photos on the site.
The photo above is an out take from the shoot.
Shooting these photos was stressful because of all the kids running around and wanting to take a picture with him. I thought that if i took him outside of Cairo i'd be able to take him to the streets and shoot some candid portraits. So we headed out to Saqqara. As we were driving i saw an interesting location on the side of the road and we went down to shoot. The people of the town swarmmed us and eventually i ended up using them as part of the photos. Sometimes you have to adapt.

I'm really happy with the results of the shoot.

B-Boys in Dubai

I was very luck to get the chance to attend a workshop with legendary magazine photographer Joe McNally this week in Dubai. The workshop focused on lighting for portraits, and the wealth of information Joe shared with us was amazing.
If I had planned to have to shoot anything it would have been something to do with hip hop, and to my surprise our models where hip hop dancers from a local dance school in Dubai run by Mofdi, a Moroccan/French choreographer . Here are my favorite images I made during the workshop.

All I said was "Jump" and Mofdi did.

Mofdi and Titiana

Mofdi shot with one of the nicest lenses I've used, the canon 85mm 1.2
Omar from Algeria is another dancer in the group.

Carol
Joe shooting a group portrait with our dance group.

Next I'm off to Cairo for a photojournalism workshop...stay tuned.

Portrait of Egyptian Comedian Ahmed Ahmed

Here is another one of the portraits I shot while attending the 2008 Dubai International film festival.


Ahmed's Bio from his website:

Ahmed Ahmed - Born in Helwan, Egypt June 27th, 1970. Parents immigrated to the US when he was one month old and grew up in Riverside, CA. Moved to Hollywood when he was 19 years old to pursue a career as an actor and stand up comedian. Attended The American Academy of Dramatic Arts for one year and studied with various acting coaches such as Cliff Osmond, Ivana Chubbuck and Sandy Marshall.

Seen in such films and television shows as Iron Man, You Don't Mess With The Zohan, Swingers, Tracey Takes On, Roseanne, JAG, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on Comedy Central and MTV's PUNK'D. Also appeared on CNN, The View, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and NPR. Was featured on the front page of The Wall Street Journal in December of 2001 and featured in Newsweek Magazine. Will be seen in the upcoming ONION MOVIE for FOX Searchlight. Currently can be seen on the Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD bonus track performing stand up comedy.

A paid regular performer at The World Famous Comedy Store in Hollywood and tours all across America and Europe. Winner of the first annual Richard Pryor Award for ethnic comedy at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in Scotland summer of 2004.

Wrote an original screenplay titled "The Pilgrimage" based on his Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca). He also co-wrote the script "Google Me" with comedian Erik Griffin.

Portrait of Palestinian poet Suheir Hammad

Finally I got to shoot a portrait of Palestinian poet Suheir Hammad, one of my favorite Arab artists. I discovered Suheir's work while i was in college. My roomate got me hooked to watching a show called Def Poetry. The show which is presented by Mos Def , featured spoken word artists performing their poems.

Also since starting my photography project on Arab hip hop, her name kept on coming up in conversations with many artists who cited her as one of their influences in Arab hip hop. My curiosity grew about Suheir, and two weeks ago while attending the Dubai film festival i ran into her. I was late to a meeting, i was running, sweaty and out of breath and at the entrance of the hotel i see my friend Ann-Marie Jacir, a Palestinan film maker and with her Suhier, who also happens to be acting in Jacir's film "Salt of this Sea." Quick introductions were made and later on i got to arrange to shoot the portraits.

One of my most enjoyable shoots.

Suheir's Bio:

Suheir Hammad is a Palestinian-American poet. She was born in Amman to refugee parents and immigrated with her family as a child to Brooklyn, New York City when she was five years old. Hammad's first collection Born Palestinian, Born Black was published in 1996, followed by Drops of This Story. Her latest collection is ZaatarDiva, and her forthcoming work is entitled 'breaking poems'. An original writer and cast member of the TONY Award winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, Hammad is a 2007 Copeland Fellow at Amherst College. Her theatre
project 'breaking letter(s)' premiered this April, produced by The New World Theatre.

Portrait of French Actor Sami Naceri

While at the Dubai Film Festival, i got to shoot a quick portrait of french actor Sami Naceri, known for his roles in Taxi, Indigenes and many other French and Algerian films.

Portrait of Lebanese director Chadi Zeneddine

I shot this recent portrait while Chadi was in Amman last month. Chadi Zeneddine will be directing "Barbershop Trinity" the next film project I am working on. Quite a talented young director, can't wait to collaborate with Chadi.

Recent portraits I shot

I haven't showed much work lately because I have been spending most of my time in airplanes and airports. Also my hard drive on my macbook crashed and burned. So slowly I'm rebuilding my photo library from the backups.
I'm posting a couple of portraits i shot in the past couple of months. Enjoy!

Director Spike Lee, Abu Dhabi

Jackson Allers, a friend and a journalist based in Beirut.

Nawazen-Le Trio Khoury, Paris.

Here are also 3 shots from a recent shoot for my Arab hip hop book i did with a graffiti artist in Dubai.

In Casting

I'm currently in the Casting process of a new film i'm a producer on. Shot this in one of the casting sessions, thought i'd share since i haven't posted any of my photography for a while. The subject is Hassan Darweesh a Jordanian actor.

The Cover of Metro Life - 7 Days Dubai

Two of my photos have been published in The weekend Metro Life Section of 7 Days in Dubai. The photos are portraits of Arab Hip Hop artist, Omar Chakkaki, aka Offendum. For a number of months i've been shooting my first long term project which hopefully will end up in a photography book about Arab Hip Hop. The article can be read here.
The photos were taken in Beirut.

Quest for the Muse

Throughout history artists have always had muses, individuals that inspire them to be creative and help in pushing that creativity to the surface. They are fun to hang out with and a nice dynamic is always present.
I have been lucky to have two friends who have always been there when i needed a little bit of a creative push, one is my L.A muse, the other is my Amman muse. I usually take these pictures for myself and my friends but today i thought i'd post a couple of pictures that i shot in the past couple months of Jen and Lara.

The Jen shots were shot with the leica and tri-x film. Lara's shots are with the canon 20d.

Gollum/King Kong and Me

While walking in London and i bumped into actor Andy Sarkis, famous for his roles as Gollum in Lord of the Rings and King Kong.

We had a chat for about 15 minutes in the street, i told him about our film and he was really nice and liked the idea of it. Asked him if i can make a frame and he was ok with it.

My first Magazine cover

I finally shot my first magazine cover!
While attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, i was commissioned by Jo magazine to shoot their March issue cover.
Mahmoud Al-Massad is a Jordanian film maker whose documentary "Recycle" won the cinematography award for world documentaries at Sundance.
The session was a very quick one, we were running late to the closing ceremony, the sun was going down and i had to get the shot. The result is what you see above.

Portraits: Gaba'a & Sabri Hakim

Two portraits i took of our crew members on "Captain Abu Raed".
The first is of our assistant location manager Mohammad Nawafleh, better known as "Gaba3a"
He's one man you can't not have on your film set when you shoot in jordan.
The second is of our set photographer Sabri Hakim.

Pictures shot on Ilford Delta 100 film with a Canon T70 using a 50mm Macro lens.

Portraits: Nadim Sawalha

One of the most beautiful things about shooting film is the little surprises you find on the negative. I had forgotten about these portraits that i shot with my canon t70 using a 50mm macro lens. I bought this lens recently and these are the first images i see from it. I'm pretty sure i'll be shooting more close up portraits with it.

Shot on ilford delta 100 film.

Juliana Fine

Its pitch dark on the balcony of our cinematographer Ray Peshke's house. We are over the clouds,the sea and mountains surround the house. Amin holds the flash light, i lift the leica to my eye, thwaap...the moment captured.
This was the last roll of film i shot with the camera before having to send it to leica in NJ for maintenance and repair. I hope the wait isn't too long.
I had seen these pictures earlier that day.

Shot with a Leica M6, 35mm f/2 Summicron, Kodak Tri-x

The filming is done

After a month of shooting (and taking a break from the blog) this is my first entry. I head to the states in a couple of days and i hope i'll be able to make use of the quick connection there to post some more pics from the set of "Captain Abu Raed"

But for now, i leave you with this portrait of actor Nadim Sawalha who did a brilliant job playing the old janitor.

Shot on ilford delta iso50, with a Leica M6 , 35mm Summicron

Portrait of an Actress

While in New York , i got to meet a good friend from college. Danielle is an actress. We had a great time walking around the city, and i got to shoot a couple of frames with her. As usual i shot both digital and film. This one is on film, Kodak tri-x, pulled one stop, shot with a leica m6, 35mm Summicron lens.

Picture of the week: Toothless in Mieres

I have finally developed all of the 13 rolls of film i shot in Spain. I am very happy with many street shots. Yet i am in the mood to post a portrait as my picture of the week. I spoke with this old man for about 10 minutes, and both of us didn't understand a word the other said. In the end, i asked if i can make a frame, and he smiled.

I am off to the states in 2 days, North Carolina first then off to Los Angeles for some meetings. Inshalla i will be making some pictures while i am there.

Made with a Leica M6, 50 f/2 Summicron, Kodak Tri-x +1

Picture in the office

Had some time to kill at the office the other day, so i set up a light, bounced it off a foam board and made this frame.

I usually dont like using photoshop much, but this image called for some manipulation.

Massari Portrait

While shooting the Massari concert a couple of months back i got the chance to make a quick frame backstage. I was shooting for Skin magazine, so until the pictures get published I can't get the rest out, but this was from what i was shooting for myself.