A damp day in Alex

 I was in Alexandria on some freelance assignments a couple of weekends back and managed to arrive pretty much at the exact same time one of the worst storms the city has seen in recent years. Western tourists are a bit thin on the ground at this time of year so I think I was something of a novelty for the locals. Fortunately, this translated in a positive way and people seemed very receptive to having their pictures taken by this strange, wet, whitey.

Cars and canapes

Ladies, cars and canapes greeted visitors the Lebanon Motor Show 2010, the first in a few years, and the subject of the magazine's first ever online web gallery. This to be the first of many, which means more work fun for me. Hopefully the fruits of a trip to the south with UNIFIL will be used for the next one.

Ashura

Although most of the Shiite community have toned down their commemoration of the death of Prophet Mohammed's grandson, those in the Lebanon's southern town Nabatieh still go the whole hog. The head is cut with a razor and then smacked repeatedly to make the blood flow, or, as per the really messy ones below, the head is repeatedly struck with some force by a massive great big poke your eye out sword. For you here in all its gory goodness...

For news on the bombs that marred the observation of Ashura in Beirut's suburbs have a look here

Happy to oblige

Richard Ian 'art' Hall, Foreign News Editor at The Daily Star and all-round gent recently started a blog. Good enough excuse for some photo making...

Beirut Marathon

Over 20,000 runners took to the streets of Beirut today - those pictured here were some of the 245 who slogged it out for the whole 23 mile marathon course. In the rain. I discovered the hard way that my new flash trigger didn't bounce, just as the first runners crossed the finish line so, sadly, there were no sweaty-just-about-to-die shots.



Haifa Wehbe - apparently she's big stuff on the pop scene out here. Daily Star sports supremo Kenny Laurie blagged me all the way into the VIP area to take a picture of him with her; I was so carried away with the light-bouncing opportunities afforded by the tiny white tent we were in I totally forgot to get him in the frame. Kenny, I'm sorry - but look closely and you'll see he's reflected in the right hand frame of her AVs. Out of the box, right?

Bad day to be a sheep...

The Muslim world celebrated Eid al-Adha festival today, which was bad news for ovines. Families buy a sheep, which the butcher promptly slaughters. A third of the meat they eat, a third goes to their relatives and a third is given to the poor.

The sheep seemed in no way distressed before they were killed, their throats cut with a simple knife. They made no sound, just the rattling gasp of the air leaving their lungs for the last time.

The twitching was unsettling.

It's called soccer out here...

This was for a Daily Star story about a Lebanese football academy that just established ties with Manchester City, of all places, so expect to see this guy on telly some time soon. The power went out just after this happy accident occurred, myself and reporter Kenny Laurie scurried off while the kids stuck out in the pitch black.

From acorns come oaks, and all that...

Derec Gruen, centre, is pretty much the Jesus of cycling; riding round the world  and taking the revolution of Critical Mass with him. Ok, so only seven people turned up for Beirut's first meet-up, but who knows what could happen in the future? Let's just hope if those cyclists decide to run with the whole religious analogy thing they can be kind enough to skip the crusade/inquisition bit...

A proper explanation of all this nonsense is here

Dom Joly, back in Beirut

Comedian Dom Joly - born and raised in Lebanon - was back in Beirut last week to research his latest book and took an afternoon out to speak to the Daily Star - see Josie Ensor's story here.
This was a fairly tough assignment given that I had a few minutes in the midday sun to create something striking. However, with the help of Josie as as voice-activated-light-stand and some judicious tweaking in Lightroom, it all came together in the end. Thanks also to Dom for some excellent posing.

He was in Doctor Who, y'know...

"So David it would be great to grab a quick portrait before you get going, if you have a minute."

Well, the man gave me five - which in blisteringly hot school yard somewhere in the midst of Beirut's Dahir suburb was just enough time to throw a light up against a convenient wall and bring you this. David Morrissey - respected actor and all that jazz - came all the way to Beirut to let some Palestinian kids have some fun with drama. Read all about it here

Please sir, I'd like my house back..

Palestinian demonstrators and their supporters gathered in central Beirut’s Martyrs square today to protest against government failure to begin reconstruction in Nahr el-Bared camp.
Considering they were fighting for their homes to be rebuilt they were very polite about it all, and jumped back on their busses just an hour and a half after arriving.

Full story.

Sandy cracks

Francophone Games end today. Good bye to the beautiful press center at Camille Chamoun Stadium which has been a home from home (from home) for the last week.