STORIES, STORIES

"When you develop an infatuation for someone, you always find a reason to believe that this is exactly the person for you. It doesn't need to be a good reason. Taking photographs of the night sky, for example. Now, in the long run, that's just the kind of dumb, irritating habit that would cause you to split up. But in the haze of infatuation, it's just what you've been searching for all these years." - Richard. The Beach [2000] *** Get out before it's too late. Close the door behind you.

It's never easy when parents die. For obvious reasons. They are the people closest to you; they know everything about you, and their love is unconditional. It's a big loss. There goes your comfort zone. Your safety net. Your Plan B. In our culture, being an "ulila", an "orphan", is something that all children are warned about. "Take care of your parents, because if you don't, you will lose them, and when you lose them, everyone will walk all over you." Parents protect you. It's even harder when your parents are dying. To witness their pain. To be helpless. To want to protect them in return and yet be unable to. My condolences to anyone and everyone who has lost a parent. Especially to those who are far from their parents, who have no means of closing that gap and paying their last respects to the people who raised them. My condolences to my brother Z, who was raised by my grandmother, who is devastated by this feeling of helplessness. My co...

I am unwell, friends. It takes about 5 years to reach a state such as mine. What scares me most is the feeling of alienation, from myself. Sometimes, I say things I can't believe I am capable of saying. Other times, I do things that are completely unreasonable, and it takes me a couple of moments before I can regain control, step back, and think about what I have done and why. There are many things I have learned this year. 1. There is no point in making people understand something they don't WANT to understand. 2. There are limits. Everywhere. 3. Life, like my job, as Lola said to me last week, must be taken one day at a time. 4. Everything is an original high. 5. Sometimes, it's "looking at the big picture" that drains us. Here are more smaller pictures, more for my enjoyment than for my readers. Photography, after all, is not for others, but for oneself. At least mine. *** Jeddah 5 September 2007 Corniche, Jeddah Jeddah II 5 September 2007 Corniche, Jeddah Jedd...