Womens Kickboxing, Marrakech and My Birth Anniversary

Had to miss last week's blog entry with my travels so must make up for it today. The week before last I shot the French Women's Kickboxing Championship.

I don't know enough to judge the talent but the ambiance was great. It was held in a local gymnasium but very professionally presented, something I rarely find at these kind of events in Paris.

Fans were really into it and the lighting in the ring made it look like a movie that Mickey Rourke should be in. To see some images from the event CLICK HERE. Or if you prefer, you can see a short video I put together HERE (give it a minute to load).

I just came back from Morocco photographing the Marrakech International Film Festival. It's a festival not like any other I've been to as you can probably tell from some of the images of the red carpet.


The festival was relatively calm and included tributes to Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Yeoh. The jury was headed by director Barry Levinson and one of the jury members is my new dream girl ... Italian actress Caterina Murino (anyway, my dream girl needed updating since Elle Macpherson 15 years ago).

Frankly the best part of the festival was that it was 75 degrees and sunny almost every day there and we had a bit of time to explore.

I find the people of Marrakech extremely warm and welcoming in general, but of all the places I've traveled to, Morocco is the most difficult for taking photos. This was my second trip to Marrakech and both times I experienced the same difficulties. The general population there has an acute sense of their surroundings. This sense seemed almost supernatural to me; I could hide behind a tree and as I was about to snap a photo, my subject, who could be busy doing 5 other things, inevitably would whip his head around and make it clear to me that he didn't want his photo taken. I truly have no idea how they knew that I was there each time.


Most of the images I was able to take of people were done on the sly, after waiting patiently to blend into the background. This contrasts so strongly from places like India, where many people there actually ask you to please take their photo.

The heart of the city is the Medina (walled inner city). It is surrounded by about 12 miles worth of walls dating back to the 13th century. The souk (market) there is one of the biggest in Africa and is a serious assault on all your senses. I found the only way to enjoy it was to periodically stop, find a relatively open space, and let the action come to me. It sounds like a cliche but as you walk through the souk, the smells and sounds seem to change every few yards, from delicious and beautiful to intolerable and disgusting. And although the guys trying to sell you things can be exceedingly annoying, it's hard not to like massive amount of life that takes place there everyday.


To see some images from in and around the Medina, CLICK HERE.

To see some festival and red carpet images, CLICK HERE.

And if you'd like a little taste of what it was like on the red carpet at the festival, you can see a short video clip by CLICKING HERE.

Thanks to everyone for sending birthday wishes from all around the world. It was a unique birthday experience this year spending it in Marrakech. I had my first ever birthday couscous!

Some images of the past two weeks:

Swans in love in front of the Louvre
Nap time
Menu from my "5-star" (out of 10?) hotel in Marrakech
Menu from my "5-star" (out of 10?) hotel in Marrakech
Menu from my "5-star" (out of 10?) hotel in Marrakech

Obama, Supercross, Gwyneth and Leo

Ohhhhbama.


An aerial view of Barack Obama's face sculpted from gravel and sand by US artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada in Barcelona (Reuters photo).

I spent election night first shooting Gwyneth Paltrow and director James Gray at the French premiere of the film "Two Lovers" (tip to Gwyneth; not the best idea to wear see through lace with camera flashes close to you)


and then zoomed over to the Trocadero across from the Eiffel Tower to the official American election viewing party. The mood was good but visually it wasn't so interesting. Except for this lady.


I received around 10 text messages and emails from friends around the world congratulating me (as if I did something) about our election. The news was clearly the talk of the town here (like it was most places) and I know that there were many private election viewing parties in the city with people staying up all night, waiting for the official announcement that came quite early in the morning local time.

But my highlight of the election week (other than Obama winning) was a conversation I overheard in a cafe the day after the election. There was one older man eating some raw meat with a raw egg on it and he started a conversation with the waiter that I was thankful to hear. They started talking about the US election and I heard the dubiously black waiter say “il est un negre, comme mois” (he's a negro like me). Then I heard the word ‘N-word’ in English thrown around a couple of times. There were also a few references to Big Macs and McDonalds as well. It wasn't clear to me exactly what they were saying but it seemed to be good spirited.

On the photo front, I had a great time photographing the Supercross of Paris.


I dig how the camera takes me to places and experiences I would otherwise never know - like motocross. Who knew you could bring a chainsaw (granted, without the blade) into the stadium to make as much noise as possible during pauses in the show? It's pretty deafening.

To see more Supercross images CLICK HERE.


Leonardo DiCaprio was also in Paris this week for the French premier of the film "Body of Lies" ...


This is seriously one of the funniest and well-done political videos I've seen in a while. I literally laughed out loud:



Some photos of the week ...

Tricky
Inexplicable junk left in front of my door

Bond, Chocolate and Sculptures ...

Along with the freezing cold, James Bond came to town this week.


It rarely happens during these kind of shoots but I got to speak with him (Daniel Craig) for a few seconds before the Quantum of Solace premiere. Between his sling (shoulder surgery) and my pseudo black eye (don't ask), I think we shared a moment of mutual sympathy. He's pretty damn cool ...


But the highlight of the week was the Salon du Chocolat, evidently the world's biggest gathering devoted entirely to chocolate.


The show brought together over 140 chocolatiers from around the world and I can tell you that walking around there with a press badge on scores you free samples - one woman gave me a chocolate shoe! The craziest thing I saw there was a fashion show with women wearing designer creations made at least in part with chocolate.


To see more images from the chocolate show, CLICK HERE.

The city hall of the 5th district (yes, each of the 20 districts (arrondissements) of Paris has its own city hall) is putting on an outdoor exhibition near the Pantheon.


Giant, beautiful sculptures from an Italian sculptrice named Rabarama are sitting out on the sidewalk for all to see. They're quiet impressive works of art, especially in that setting.

A few photos of the week ...

Another Rabarama sculpture
Another Rabarama sculpture
Contrast

Rome, Prejudice and LifeGem

I spent this week in Italy, one of my favorite places in the world. I was in Rome shooting the Rome International Film Festival. It's quite a scene on the red carpet, with the attempt at organization being almost as entertaining as the festival itself.

The big names were men (Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Al Pacino) but it was the women on the red carpet that attracted most of the attention.


The low-light of the festival was seeing the zombie-like behavior of the hoards of children reacting to the premiere of High School Musical III. Evidently, many children in Italy (or maybe their parents) drank the same Disney Kool Aid as many American children have.

To see images from the festival, CLICK HERE.

Of course I ate well and enjoyed the fact that the same 1 liter bottle of sparkling water costs half of what it does in Paris. I had 1 full day to walk the city with my camera.


To see some images from my promenade, CLICK HERE.

One reason that I like traveling is that it forces me to become aware of and confront my own prejudices. For example, when I'm in places like Hungary and the Czech Republic, it takes me a couple of days before I realize that even though most of the men there look like the bad guys from 80's American action movies, they're fine and I can relax. And that not ALL the women there are for sale.

In Italy, it takes me a while to accept that people are not actually yelling at each other but that in their culture, screaming and arm waving with 9 inches of separation from another individual is not an act of aggression. I still struggle with the fact that our ears can be genetically the same and yet react in such different ways.

There's much to write about on this subject but I'd be curious to hear about some of your traveling prejudices ... good, bad or ugly.

Just when you thought maybe we as a society are not insane enough, have a look at what this company called LifeGem does. For anywhere from $3,500 up to $20,000, this company will take the carbon from the remaining ashes of a loved one and make a diamond out of it. I wish I was kidding. This is from their website:


What is a LifeGem®?

The LifeGem® is a certified, high-quality diamond created from the carbon of your loved one as a memorial to their unique life, or as a symbol of your personal and precious bond with another.

To learn (laugh) more, go HERE.

A couple of photos of the week:

Young and Happy
When it starts getting cold outside

Obama, Fall, Customer Service & Water Salad

This week I attended a Barack Obama campaign event, held at the home of a long-time Democrats Abroad supporter.

The event was pretty much a cheerleading and organizing session and included a call-in by Democratic Senate candidate from North Carolina Kay Hagan (she's running against Elizabeth Dole).


Not much of substance really happened but what was most notable was the number of people in attendance and the enthusiasm of the group. In a recently-released survey here, 93%(!) of French people said they supported Obama in the upcoming election.

Fall has arrived in full force here ... the leaves are falling, the nights are cold and the big coats and scarves are coming out.


I've been going on morning walks in the Luxembourg Gardens and have been reminded how beautiful it is this time of year - especially how colorful it is (and that includes the characters hanging out there!)


This week also brought another less-expected change ... good customer service. In unprecedented fashion (at least for me), both my new banker and a random insurance guy were ridiculously nice, patient, efficient and even almost fun with me during my dreaded appointments with them this week. My banker, who looks a bit like a French version of one of the nerd characters from the movie "Porky's", took a meeting with me without a previous appointment, typed a letter that I needed from him real-time and made a reasonable attempt to explain French taxes to me. He spent over an hour with me, which was probably more than the cumulative time all my previous bankers had spent with me. The random insurance guy, who I went to for a quote, was hysterical, calling his company "communist" (it's a mutual), responding with "so you don't do anything really" when I told him I was a photographer, and saying "on s'en fout" (meaning, in a very familiar, casual way, "we don't give a damn) about me being covered when I travel in the US. I write a lot of negative stuff about French service in this blog so it's only fair that I mention it when miracles like this week happen.

Speaking of miracles, I may have discovered the latest miracle product. It's called Water Salad and can be described this way:


“Water Salad” is a “meal in a can” and belongs to the “near water” category. It is a light reddish colour, almost transparent and contains tomato extract as both a natural vegetable colorant and as a nutrient. “Water Salad” takes advantage of the marketing value of tomato extract by claiming on the bottle label that lycopene is “reported to control active oxygen.” Madness.

There's really not much I enjoy more than Japanese marketing, products and their commercials, like THIS ONE featuring our beloved governor.

Some photos of the week ...

Jardin Luxembourg
Parc Montsouris
I think he re-animated from the statue but only made it a few steps

NBA in Paris, Nobel Prizes and Chaos

The NBA came to Paris this week and although preseason basketball is not normally a big deal, when the game is played in Paris, it gets more attention.

Celebrities such as Lenny Kravitz, Ahmad Rashad, Darryl Dawkins and several famous French athletes were in attendance. And although the game didn't count for much, it was fun watching Dwyane Wade and Vince Carter up close.

To see some images from the game, CLICK HERE.

The French had a good week on the Nobel prize front. Two French scientist were awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine and another Frenchman won the Nobel Prize for literature. I got to go to the Elysee Palace to photograph the winners meeting with President Sarkozy. They seemed pretty damn happy.

The main thing people keep asking me about here these days is "what the hell is going on the US financial markets?" Anyone have any idea what I can tell them?

Some photos of the week:

Dodger Nomar Garciaparra
Jail for bad leaves?
New form of English?
Things not often seen in supermarket lines

One more week without a posting ... I'll be back next week