Cameras – Gino’s Blog

I’m not much of a creative type, but one thing I have begrudgingly began to accept is that I really love taking photos. Instagram is by far my favorite social network. It’s also the one I put the most effort into. Heck, I think I’d even be willing to deactivate my Facebook and stick to Instagram if I didn’t enjoy trolling statuses so much.

Before, the idea of buying a camera was always so farfetched to me. My smartphone cameras were always enough, and I used to tell myself that when you see a good shot, you probably won’t have your camera and its settings ready to take that shot. In 2015, after going to Dubai with Canon for an awesome workshop and street photography weekend, I kinda understood why a camera isn’t as much of a hassle I thought it would be, and that it’s actually a lot of fun and gives you a lot more to play with before sharing an image.

On my way back from JFK in late 2015, I had a layover in Doha’s Hamad International Airport. I remember checking Amazon for mirrorless cameras, and thinking the Fujifilm XA-1 seemed within a price range I was willing to part with. I had second thoughts, and didn’t up ordering. At the duty free in Qatar though, I saw a tech store with that same camera, two lenses, a camera bag and a 64GB SD card for the price of the camera on Amazon. I picked up the box, headed to the cashier, and what’s when I bought my first camera.

The first time I tried using manual settings, I watched 4-minute YouTube clip about how to take shots in low light, and headed down to Mashrou’ Leila and spent the entire night trying to capture something decent. I did. I was in love. I don’t think I’d ever go down the DSLR path, cause quite frankly, I’m lazy and my XA-1 fills in for me so I just have to point and shoot when not at night or at a club.

Anyway, recently, I’ve noticed I love themes in the shots I take, and one theme I am particularly fond of is my “See-Through” shots. They’re shots taken in neighborhoods and cities that have been torn apart by war and are still struggling to pick the pieces up. In Lebanon, it’s hard for your eyes to not fall upon a bullet-ridden abandoned building with shrapnel wounds every few hundred meters. In some places, it’s a long-gone memory. In others however, it’s an ever-present warning of how quickly things can go downhill again.

The name was just a lazy Instagram caption at first, but then I realized it kinda had a double entendre. See-through as in transparent, but also, see through as in not fall for the deception, and see things for what they truly are.

Here are some of my “See-Through” shots, taken with my Fujifilm XA-1 and my Motorola Moto G4+

Taken in Tripoli, from what’s left of a building damaged by dozens of rounds of violence since the Lebanese Civil War (Fujifilm X-A1)

That same building in Tripoli, but from the other side of the former frontline, taken a week after the first one above (Fujifilm X-A1)

This shot summarizes the decades of fighting all in one frame. The wall is traditional Lebanese stone masonry, damaged so heavily, that it was plastered with cheap material and painted orange to cover it up. The wall was then punched through by a shell shot from below, and eventually served as an opening to shoot rocket-propelled grenades from above in retaliation. (Fujifilm X-A1)

Despite the damage though, and being burned and destroyed many times over the past few decades, someone still lives there, and attempts to renovate the building are clear. (Fujifilm X-A1)

This building used to be a printing press on the corner of Monot Street and Huvelin Street. Today, only parts of its facade still stand, flanked by student parking on one side and pubs on the other. The bullet holes on a building so close to the “Green Line” that used to divide East and West Beirut are a gentle reminder to people walking through those streets who bother to glance up and care to notice the scars, and see the sky through them.

This building off Sassine Square is also a phantom that many of us pass by almost on a daily basis, but never bother to look at. This shot has special significance for me personally, since for once, I wasn’t alone while taking it, but with a person I care for deeply who agreed to venture into the abandoned building and explore it with me.

Not all the See-Through photos are sad or somber though. Some are liberating and comforting, capturing an intense love for Techno and the culture that surrounds it.

Richie Hawtin performing at Club Der Visionäre in Kreuzberg in Berlin. Hawtin is one of the producers that helped me discover how much I love Techno growing up, taken in a city I spent most of last year revelling in. It’s blurry because photography is not allowed in that city while clubbing, or at least exceptionally frowned upon. This shot was just too good though, and it brings back fond memories in a city that has embraced its dark, war-torn past, and transformed into something better and teaming with life.

Across the river from this gig is where one of the final major battles of WWII happened. Where Soviet troops overwhelmed Nazi defenses in Berlin, close to Treptower Park. That day, it was full of happiness and people dancing. It was also when I felt it was time to go home, which is why I was standing behind, looking through, no longer on the dance floor, but merely admiring from afar what had made my year special, all the people I met there, all the conversations I had and all the art my ears were privy to. I was seeing through the art installation behind the DJ booth, but also, I could see through the reason I needed a long break, and that it was time to leave and go back home.

I’m sorry for the cheesiness and preachiness of some of the captions, but even when it’s a quick, blurry shot, there’s always a story behind those shots and this is the first time I share them here and try to put what they mean to me into words. I’m used to using words, but this images thing is new and I’d love it if you guys tell me what you think.