After a long and exhausting flight, that included a seven hour layover in Chicago, we arrived in Amman, Jordan at 5 PM on March 28th, 2008. To our relief we were met within due time by a gentlerman holding a sign “Marquez”. He worked for Jordan Tours. Without delay our bags arrived on the carousel, and soon we were in a car headed to the hotel. I wasn’t hungry because we were fed well on the plane. After taking a brief walk around the hotel area, we retired for the night.
The next morning we had breakfast and met our driver who within an hour had us at the border, where we went through the security process and arrived safely on the Israeli side. After a short delay we found our new guide, Nassar, a Palestinian, who took us past Jericho along the outskirts of Jerusalem through Palestine security to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Here we were, the actual place where Jesus was born. This was quite a feeling. Here I photographed one of the showcase pieces in the upcoming show.
Later that afternoon we headed to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, where we visited the Garden of Gethsemane, the Church of All Nations and Mary’s Tomb. My plan was to photograph a sunset over the Jerusalem skyline. We checked into the Seven Arches Hotel, the perfect place for that photograph. It was about 5 P.M., sunset was to be about 7 P.M. I looked west and the sky was clear, so I decided to take a quick nap. I awoke within an hour looked out the window. During that short period of time a cloud bank had blown in, along with high winds. This night there would be no sunset. I was quite disappointed, but soon realized that the shot I wanted would have been highly damaged by the large number of construction cranes that would appear in the photo. So, after dinner I went to bed, hoping the cloud bank would disappear.
Upon the scheduled sunrise, it was still in the eastern sky but within a half hour the sun came through and I was able to photograph the Dome of the Rock with decent light. We met Nassar about 8 A.M. He took us through the city walls into Jerusalem, where our first stop was the famed Western Wall. Here I was able to photograph a Rabbi praying at the Wall. From there we followed the Stations of the Cross up to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Here I was not only emotionally moved, knowing that Jesus had died here, but I was blessed with a couple of great shots of the Dome. Our stay in Israel was short, but the memory will last a lifetime. I cannot remember a 24 hours in my life that was so powerful. If YOU ever have the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it.
We ran into a snag at the Jordan border getting back across. Had to wait two hours in a crowded taxi as our Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice crossed over from Amman. But by mid-afternoon and a lot more security, we were back in Jordan and on our way across the desert for Petra. We arrived by 6 P.M., met with the crew from Jordan Tours in Wadi Mesa, then checked into the hotel, where they served a very so-so dinner at the restaurant.
The next morning we hiked into Petra, a good mile plus through the Siq and finally coming face to face with the Treasury. It’s hard to believe that this could have been carved into stone, truly one of the seven wonders of the world. We explored the area, as I burned up some good rolls of film. By noon we headed back to town, relaxed until near sunset. We were driven to a great spot for a sunset over the Petra mountains from Wadi Mesa.
We returned to Petra the following morning this time taking the high road, a bit of a difficult hike, at least it was for me, to a near aerial view of the Treasury. Our guide, Gabar, seemed to know
every inch of the landscape. He had previous experience working with movie crews that came to Jordan to film. He told us he was making arrangements to work on a 5th Indiana Jones movie.
From this high place Gabar whistled way down below to some friends who, within a minute, had cleared the people from in front of the Treasury, so I could get my shot. And so I did, quickly
motor-driving through a couple of rolls. Soon we climbed back down the steep rocks to the base of the Treasury and hung out there for a while. We wandered around Petra for a while, taking a variety of photos, none though that would match up to the Treasusry or the Siq. The rest of the day we took as down time, hanging out in Wadi Mesa. We had dinner at the Petra Kitchen. Here we prepared our own food along with a few others, and when we were done, we enjoyed the feast.
The next day, after a thrilling stay in Petra, we drove to the Wadi Rum Desert where we met Mr. Mohammed, an Arab about 60 or so, who greeted us. We loaded our bags into his jeep, while another, Azeeze took us for a 2 hour jeep ride across the desert sand. This ended at the campsite where we were to spend the night. I ran off a couple of shots at sunset. Mohammed made us a wonderful dinner around the campfire. It was just us and him. That was a little strange, and got stranger when he started rambling on about Bush, about the Palestinians and the Israelis. I finally stopped him and said “Mohammed, tell me about the stars.” He paused, then smiled and said “Of course”. He was actually an incredibly great host, a man it seemed of great kindness. He left me his cell phone which would serve as a wake-up call, set for 5:30, he said sunrise time. One of his sons arrived at the camp, and Mohammed left for the night. We retired to our tents.
I awoke at 5 AM. It was still pitch dark outside, but a beautiful crescent moon was in the eastern sky. Without thinking twice I set the camera and tripod up for a pre-sunrise shot of the pure sky above. Sunrise finally came at 6:30, and a took a beautiful shot of a desert tree in the dawn light, with beautiful ripples in the sand. I had wandered with my camera a couple of hundred yards from the camp. Chris was still sleeping and there was no sign of Mohammed’s son. Shortly Mohammed arrived, cooked us a tasty breakfast with some of the best herbal tea I’ve ever had. He apologized for the later than predicted sunrise. Said he had forgotten we were back on Daylight Savibgs Time. We said our goodbyes and transferred to a driver who took us for 4 hours across some real barren land to the Dead Sea for our last night of the trip.
What I wanted here was to relax and come home with a sunset over Israel from the Jordan side of the Dead Sea. After checking into to this plush hotel that Ramzi (Jordan Tours) had booked for us, Chris and I changed into our bathing suits and headed down to the water, where we floated on our backs in the salty water. And yes, you really do float! It was nice to relax for a couple of hours in the Dead Sea. Now, it was time to complete our shoot in the Middle East. We hired a driver to take us to an area where there was salt along the shoreline. The driver knew of a spot 30 minutes away. We were cutting it a little tight, but we arrived at the area about 20 minutes before sunset. It was a perfectly clear evening. There was only one problem. The salt along the shore was a steep 50 yards down a slippery slope. Chris had his sandles on, so he was unable to assist me. The driver stepped up, and together we worked our way down the hill. We arrived at the salt, finally, about three minutes before sunset. I fired off a couple of rolls, just in time. However there was little if no light left on the salt. This is a tough one to work, because if the salt was lit, the sun would have been way too bright for a well rounded exposure. It took some effort to get back up the hill, but the driver and I made it. We returned to the Dead Sea Hotel for an absolutely delicious buffet dinner.
I must say that I found the people in Jordan to be incredibly friendly and more than willing to go out of their way to help. Ramzi, with Jordan Tours, and I have kept contact since the trip and hope to maintain a friendship with in the future.