Posts filed under ‘Events’
Spook Goes the Night
Happy Halloween everyone!
What was your costume this year?
For the first time, I didn’t dress up and rather spent this past weekend behind my lens, capturing people dressed in elaborate, ridiculous and sometimes truly scary costumes on the streets of Gemmayze with the Beirut Street Photographers and Night Collective. Check out other photos from the community posted on our wall for this week’s theme “Halloween”.
Check out some of my favorite captures from the night:
"Waking the Dead"
"She Devil"
Zoro the Dark Knight
"Angry Monkey"
"My what big eyes you have.. "
More photos from the night here.
Seven.
As mysterious as the black box I received a few days ago, was the event I attended a few days later (last Thursday, to be exact). As I walked in, careful not to accidentally trip over my heels in the candle-light entryway, I felt strangely out-of-place. All around me where glammed-up celebrities (she’s on Future TV!) and other lesser-known folks (to me) that I would have know had I been a regular to this scene.
I took a deep breath, smoothed down my dress and carefully slung my camera strap on one of my shoulders. Whoever designs DSLR cameras and their bulky straps was obviously not considering women in cocktail dresses. But my camera would hardly stand out that night in the midst of dozens of photographers, swarming at the different tables. No woman, man, stage speaker or table ornament went unflattered.
Once the photographers had done their rounds of the tables, things got more interesting. The mystery was soon revealed: Olay was entering the Lebanese market. To be honest though, the highlights of the night for me were not so much about the product (I’m already a fan of the brand), but 7 of the things the organizers so carefully planned:
7. The venue. You can never go wrong with an event at Sursock Palace. Every wall and ceiling ornament is a piece of art.
6. The candles. Someone should have proposed that night (who knows, maybe someone did?). The mood was soft, romantic and beautiful.
5. The little notes on the plates. Seven courses, seven guilt-free moments.
My favorite course of the night. Written on the little note: Avocado - It's rich, tasty and loaded with Vitamin E. Avocado is sure to fight wrinkles and defend your skin.
Even the chocolate dessert came with a little tag: “Now that you’ve given your skin the indulgence it deserves, it’s time for you to enjoy the luscious pleasure of chocolate.”
4. Sharing a table with Egyptian fashionistas. I ran into a few friends at the event and met some new ones on my table – mostly Egyptian and fabulous. The question of the night: ‘Where can we go party after this?”, which lead to an after-party at Gem down the stairs from Sursock Palace. 6 women in heels and fancy dresses walking down the Gemmayze stairs, what a sight!
3. More mysterious boxes. This time, with Olay’s Total Effects Anti-Ageing products. It’s never too late to prepare your skin. (I gave these sample goodies to my mom – she loved them!)
2. The fiesty redhead singer. This woman rocks! From the moment I saw her, I couldn’t shake off her resemblance to Florence from Florence and the Machine. Their musical styles are different of course, but both have a distinctive fashion edge and powerful vocals.
1. Nadine Labaki. (Enough said) Ironically enough, I was watching “Caramel” the day I received the invitation to the event. If you would ask me which Arab woman I look up to, she’d be the only one – hands-down. Not only is she naturally beautiful, talented and successful – she’s modest and hard-working. Proctor and Gamble couldn’t have chosen a better spokesperson for their Olay line. (On that topic, check out this cool list of the Top 25 Celebrity Spokespeople of all time – recognize any of them?)
I was lucky enough to actually photograph her during a private interview at the event. When they say always have your camera ready, it’s for these moments! Although I’m not big on photographing famous people (they get enough attention from the paparazzi), knowing I would get to photograph Nadine Labaki meant the world to me.
And that truly was the highlight of the night for me!
“Tweeting” the Knot
As Prince William and Kate Middleton were tying the knot last Friday – glamor, glitz and all – I was no where near a TV, so my best alternative was the online community. After scrolling through a few photos on various news websites (mostly to see the dress Kate wore) and reading the unavoidable Facebook updates ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the festivities, it got boring pretty quick.
Enter Twitter and one of my all-time favorite comedians Maz Jobrani, live-tweeting about the event. Below his most memorable tweets of the day:
@MazJobrani: Taking Prince William to Amsterdam for 1 last hurrah b4 the big day. Gonna see some royal stripping!
@MazJobrani: @ The Royal Wedding. Mortified! I’m wearing the exact same red jacket as William. What are the chances?
@MazJobrani: They just exchanged vows. He claimed “I Doth” and she claimed “I doth too!” I’m looking up the word “doth” 2 c what’s going on
@MazJobrani: This reception is taking waaaay too long. Can’t wait for the tequila shots. Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots!
@MazJobrani: Uh oh! William had me hold the ring to hold. Where’d I put that damn thing?
@MazJobrani: Where do I get one of those fuzzy hats that the guards r wearing? This could b the cure to my baldness!
@MazJobrani: @ Buckingham Palace. Gotta take a leak! Trying to do it with royalty. Maybe I’ll salute as I pee.
@MazJobrani: The Queen’s wearing a yellow suit and hat. My pimp in LA has that same outfit!
@MazJobrani: They just kissed. I’m strangely aroused. Is that weird?
@MazJobrani: William’s balding. Kate is hot. This is a victory for bald people all over the world! Way to go Willy!
Classic! Congrats to the married couple – and with every major wedding, may there be a funny comedian making side-jokes for the rest of us watching.
If Only…
I spent yesterday at the March 14 rally (that took place on March 13 to coincide with the weekend) documenting the event with my camera. Entrenched in the swarms of people wrapped in flags, I was most touched by the children there. Children who are too innocent to know what they truly believe in, yet they represent the future of our country.
Do we want to breed more political segregation in our country? Do we want to raise our children simply following a political group because their parents expect them to?
I don’t have any political inclinations so as I walked through the crowds, I let my neutral lens capture the emotions of both young and old alike yet their expressions were anything but.
It seems many people there were having a fun Sunday afternoon, many setting up small picnic areas with their families, enjoying the sun and food being sold by the vendors there. Several also brought their hookahs to pass the time.
Then you have the really rowdy crowd that was jumping on the chairs, climbing on poles and would make me listen to what they thought the rally would achieve the second they saw my camera. (It only takes photos my friend)
If we were to drown out the politicians riling the crowds, mute the chants of support to this-and-this politician, hide the few (relatively-speaking) politically-inclined flags, we’d have had a patriotic celebration of Lebanon yesterday.
If only.
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More of my photos of the rally can be seen here. All photos here and on my Flickr are under copyright, but if you’d like to use them somewhere else, please contact me: loryne@gmail.com first. Thanks!
