aadm: jordan

I went to Jordan in the middle of September 2013 for work and managed to take some photographs; this is a small selection (I have some more on flickr).

In the first section here I tried to capture the aura of the Dead Sea. I will have to go back someday and bring my family because swimming in those oily, salty, incredibly warm waters is truly an unreal and somehow magical experience.

On my last day I went to Petra too — because if you are in Jordan you can’t really avoid visiting Petra. I can’t say I enjoyed it that much, maybe because I don’t like dead things and places; I probably had more fun hiking to the High Place (everybody kept saying that it was a strenous climb but it was really nothing) but in reality if I want to hike I can go someplace closer.

From a photographic standpoint Petra was however a challenge. It is difficult to find novelty in a touristic place known all over the world. And even though I was there at sunrise, the light did not create crazy colors or dramatic shadows. I guess that’s the problem of not knowing the place beforehand, you just don’t know if the best time to shoot a specific feature is in the early hours or later in the afternoon.

Anyway that’s what happens when you are not a professional photographer traveling to exotic locations just to shoot the last roll of Kodachrome; you still want to squeeze out tiny bits of image-taking from everything that life throws at you. And this is a good creative game you play with yourself; getting a new angle from a place that is like a photographic whore, using the midday sun and its harsh shadows because there’s no way to come back when the light is better. Can’t say I have been entirely successful, but it’s a good game to play, it keeps you fit.

PART 1: DEAD SEA

Lights of Israel.

Cleaner.

Swimming not allowed.

After work 1.

After work 2.

PART 2: PETRA

The Treasury (Al-Khazneh).

I woke up this morning and there was some japanese girls jumping in the air.

Bedouin girl 1.

Bedouin girl 2: after the ritual offer to sell us some forgettable souvenirs, she asked if we wanted some tea; at her second offer she also added that she really didn’t want to sell us anything more. It was just that kind of generous offer that leaves you confounded and a bit ashamed of yourself. My photographs don’t do justice to her.