Entries from 'Middle East'
Make Hummus Not Walls
- Aperture: f/10
- ISO: 400
- Shutter Speed: 1/250 s
- Focal Length: 10mm
- Camera: Canon EOS 7D
On the morning we set out to cross the Israeli-Palestinian border for a day-trip to Bethlehem, we heard what sounded like a baby crying in the open foyer of an apartment building on Jaffa Street. Investigating, we discovered a tiny kitten huddled in a corner on the cold, marble floor. Her, champion of hungry and…
“The hummus will set you free!”
- Aperture: f/8
- ISO: 400
- Shutter Speed: 1/400 s
- Focal Length: 75mm
- Camera: Canon EOS 7D
“The hummus will set you free!” This was yelled at me by a very aggressive hummus vendor who then flashed a wide grin and pointed at several pots of hummus (pronounced hoo-mus) set on a counter in front of him. Her and I were deep within the Mahane Yehuda Market. We had already purchased some halva (a…
Step-by-excruitiating-step: An Israel land-border crossing
- Aperture: f/22
- ISO: 400
- Shutter Speed: 1/125 s
- Focal Length: 10mm
- Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Amazingly, entering Israel from Jordan marked the first time we made a land-border crossing on the trip. (Airfare proved relatively cheap and, as we didn’t have an unlimited amount of time at our disposal, flying often made the most sense.) Of course, we picked a doozy. Like many travelers, we were aware that many Arab/Muslim…
Burning nipples, papier-mâché Moses and the baptism site of Christ
- Aperture: f/29
- ISO: 320
- Shutter Speed: 1/320 s
- Focal Length: 17mm
- Camera: Canon EOS 7D
What do burning nipples and a visit to the baptism site of Jesus have in common? For me, the two experiences were separated by only a few miles. From our hotel in Madaba, Jordan, we drove our rental car west to explore and have a swim in the Dead Sea, completing our journey from the…
Tea for two at Petra
- Aperture: f/11
- ISO: 400
- Shutter Speed: 1/1000 s
- Focal Length: 300mm
- Camera: Canon EOS 7D
By now, if you’ve been reading this blog regularly, you know my somewhat guileless affinity for animals – both wild and domesticated – has often gotten me in trouble during this trip (See posts on the koala, the monkey and the mule attacks). Pursuing the four-legged residents of Petra was not particularly dangerous, but it…
Get your Indiana Jones fix here
- Aperture: f/14
- ISO: 400
- Shutter Speed: 1/250 s
- Focal Length: 20mm
- Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Jordan, as framed in the neat oval of a Boeing 737 window, resembles Tatooine from the sky: a sea of rusty red sand, canyons and jagged mountains. As viewed through the windshield of a Citroën C3 sedan cruising Highway 15, the landscape is monochromatic, the sky a hazy gray. There are signs of civilization in…
