2nd Anniversary, and the best is yet to come…

Ymn Merhebi (Original Post)

Two years, 25 journeys, more than 300 photographers (professional & amateur) and one beloved city. I still find it hard to believe that two years have already passed for the shoot as you walk group’s events! It really seems like yesterday, perhaps because we never count our happy moments, and that time actually flies by!

The funny thing is that “Shoot as you walk” events are organized by the “We Love Tripoli” association when they could be an organization standing by itself. Almost a year ago, a photo exhibition was held at Nawfal palace that showed a collection of photos by the shoot as you walk photographers. Two seasons of Ramadaniyat followed that were a huge success because they showed the city’s life at night and in Ramadan. And recently a website was launched to gather all of the photos of the journeys and events, all the media appearances, videos and blogs. Check it out: www.shootasyouwalk.com

To my fellow shoot as you walkers, I wish you a very happy anniversary. To everyone who follows our updates and news and get to know the different faces of the old Tripoli, stay tuned for the upcoming journeys and you’re more than welcome to join us. In fact, the open facebook invitation always says:” In the aim of getting introduced to some of the historical quarters of Tripoli, and showing the world that our city is a place of peace and safety; “We Love Tripoli” group invites you to a shooting journey. Bring your traditional cameras, digital cams, mobile cams, video cams or just come as you are  “

Shoot As You Walk Events

Tripoli ma ville

Ymn Merhebi (Original Post)

Let me tell you the story of an ancient city, a city so rich in its heritage that each and every tiny alley is a time witness despite the fact that it’s getting poorer and more neglected by the minute. It’s sad really, because if you don’t surround yourself with love, nothing will mean anything anymore. Love is the key, and its roots should grow deeper and fonder to embrace the history of the city that one lives in, in my case: Tripoli.

As you already know by now, the “We Love Tripoli” association organizes tours in the old city (shoot as you walk) & this Sunday event is for passionate people. That’s right. Some people join in because of their passion to photography, others for the love of the journey itself & the friendly company. What other motive could there be to sacrifice a good morning sleep?

To be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go this time. But Nour.K insisted, so I couldn’t possibly resist. The thing is, we keep on going to the same places, but from different paths and I have already photographed the weird architecture along with the historical monuments with people in the souk so many times (it’s journey 24). So this time, I tried to benefit from the journey in a different way.

I decided to take photographs of people more than those of places and it’s amazing how eager kids were to be part of the procedure. I also decided to write down every bit of information Taha.N was giving so I can retell it to anyone who cares enough to read this entry.

We headed to “Beb El Ramel” and the first stop was in “Zoukak Saf El Blat” and as the name implies, the alley was paved with tiles all along. Then, it was “Zoukak Al Kawekji” named after the Sheikh Abou El Mahasen Kawekji as I was told. Next, it was “Sahat Al Deftar” which is originally “Defterdar”, as a Turkish reference for a deanery in the Ottoman reign.

Then it was “Zoukak El Dabebseh” and I love the name’s origin. Some time in the past, there lived a sheikh in that area. He had a disciple who had done bad deeds and wanted to repent. So the sheikh told him to stick a pin in the ground and come back the following year. If grass grew around the pin, it’s a sign of Allah’s acceptance of his repentance. And so he did what he was asked to, a year later, green grass grew all around it. This is why it was called “Zouk El Dabebseh” (dabebseh (plural) reference to dabbous (singular), Arabic for pin) this is also the origin of “Dabbousy” family.

Another zoukak with another interesting story is “Zoukak El Hajjeh”. It’s named after the principal of a school that taught foreign languages whose last name was “Hajjeh”. The school doesn’t exist anymore; it’s populated by a large family. But its gate still remains. “ZoukakE Hajjeh” led us to the “Khankeh” originally “Khanika” Arabic for suffocating. It’s called this way because they used to gather knights’ horses there, this is why there’s another nearby alley named” Zoukak Rbat El Kheil” that turned out to be “Zoukak El Zock” where there’s a steel sponge factory now.

“Zoukak Ouwaynet” is the last stop. & it’s actually divided into three sections one of them leads to “Souk El Khodra” (Vegetables market) and back to the start point “Zoukak El Hommos”.

I wonder when the next shoot as you walk event is, in fact, I’m looking forward to the Citadels’ journey because I’ve only been there once and I want to go one more time. This journey was postponed so many times because of the reconstruction & the renovation.

Before I leave you with the photos, I want to thank Taha N, Hassan O & Taha B for their perseverance in growing the love of this city in the hearts of its citizens. Allah y2awikon Shabeb 

If you want to see more photos click on the following link:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150311132102540.337890.651572539&l=b143e9831e&type=1

Shoot As You Walk 24

Nour Kabbara (Original Post)

Finally, its October, my favorite month of the year! Apart from it being my birth month, it also marks the beginnings of autumn (though I’m still counting on at least one last trip to the beach for a proper goodbye, maybe next week?) and better photo ops. Take today for example; I joined We Love Tripoli for their 24th Shoot As You Walk adventure alongside my photo take inspirer, Ymn! As usual, we met up in front of Nawfal Palace and headed off to the depths of old Tripoli. For some reason I can never memorize the names or places we go to and Ymn, even though better at names than I am, also began mixing up. So, she came up with this good idea of writing them all down on a piece of paper, and as soon as she’s posted the latest entry on her blog (of course related to today’s walk), I’ll share the link with you and maybe we can all get some of those names stuck in our heads (apart from Taha Naji, who is a walking, talking, Tripoli dictionary, God bless you boy! Hmm, I’d really like to think I got some good shots today, but I’ll let you be the judges

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Ramadaniyat @Alam Net TV Show

AlamNet TV Show

Shoot As You Walk | Ramadaniyat 2011

Shoot As You Walk (Ramadaniat 4)

Nour Kabbara (Original Post)

I’m guessing this is this year’s finale of the “Shoot As You Walk” Ramadaniat series. And as I’ve been informed, the path is going to include Azmi & Kadisha streets…

Truth be told, I’m not that interested in going this time, mainly because of the overcrowded streets that become so as the end of Ramadan nears, making taking pictures a little more difficult than usual. But if you’re interested, tonight’s the night to shoot! Meet the We Love Tripoli gang in front of Nawfal Palace at 10:00PM and let me know how it goes!

Shoot as you walk events..my side of the story

Farah Merhebi (Original Post)

It’s been a while now since I attended my first “shoot as you walk” event with “We Love Tripoli” people. To tell you the truth, I was not quite certain I would ever repeat it.. let me first explain that ever since we were kids, old Tripoli with all its charm and souks and corners was familiar to us: mom used to take us with her whenever she went. Then when we became older, the school’s history teacher- Ahmad Barakeh- so passionate about history, organized several field trips and introduced many of the ancient relics of the city.
So, I wasn’t expecting to learn anything new or to find an attraction I did not have for the beautiful old city. but I attended anyway, out of curiosity and out of respect for the enthusiasm the guys showed. Mainly, I attended because my sister Ymn wanted to and I would accompany her anywhere, no questions asked. The trips became revolved around me waiting for her to take shots or finish talking to someone or pack something… It became for me an event of “follow Ymn as she shoots”.

Soon, however, the trips began to interest me: I discovered new/old corners that I never noticed before, it became easy to put a name tag for streets and places previously unknown to me.. I rarely took photographs, and when I did I found it silly since at least  10 other people took variants of the same shot.. I soon lost interest in “shooting” and took interest in the walk itself. The companionship I found there was amazing: how people, complete strangers, can find common grounds then build a friendship amazed me. I think this is where these trips succeeded the most: introducing perfect strangers to each other with only one passion in common: Tripoli.

I consider myself lucky now when I think about the new friendships I made. Taha Naji, Hassan Osmani, Ghaida Bakri, Nour Kabbara, Omar Mourad, Omar Bakkour, Taha Baba, Ahmad Derbass, Mahmoud Layla…People I like, people that are funny, interesting and each with a personality so different but still able to bond and become friends. I couldn’t imagine any other way these people could have met or formed such a successful group without the ” Tripoli bonds” that united them.
there may be other  names I forgot to mention, faces I saw, people I met..but the point is this: No matter how many times I went on these trips and observed the same scenery, each trip I had new people to meet, new experiences to live , new anecdotes to tell..And this is why I still attend these events.

 

Cities look different at night

Ymn Merhebi (Original Post)

Cities look different at night and the night looks very different in Ramadan. I try not miss out on any opportunity to attend the “Shoot as you walk” events but the latest tours were even more appealing to me because of the theme “Ramadaniyat” & the timing: at night.

The colorful thing about the journeys is the paths we take. The first one was in the souks of El Mina and the decorations, though simple but added to the warm ambiance of Ramadan nights.  What really bothered me is the photography in the dark. I couldn’t capture everything around me. The photos came out blurry or dark no matter what camera mode I used. Very few shots were OK but I can’t say I’m proud. Here are some shots from El Mina tour:

Another journey followed which path crossed with Beb El Ramel & the famous Moussa Cafe. Unfortunately I couldn’t be with them, this is why I was super excited when Nour offered to pick us up to “Ramadaniyat ” (Souk El Bazerken). I went with Nour, Farah & Abdallah who also asked his friends to meet him there.

It was super crowded! We almost lost the group that was lagre enough already. It seemed like people wait for Ramadan to go to the souks that sold everything that comes to your mind. You can get some fresh juice while trying out a new pair of shoes! The crowded location prevented us from taking a lot of photos, too because if you stop you risk being pushed and smashed. I love how people posed and smiled at our noisy cameras. El Mina souks were better decorated but Al Bazerkan was more alive.

Near the end, and after taking the group photo, a loud music was heard: a folk song. To everyone’s surprise, the guys joined in and started a Dabkeh dance in the middle of the souk square. It was funny and spontaneous. I took a few photos of the guys and a video of the dance. The music guy seemed to be pleased with the ambiance and the sound became louder. You can hear our giggles in the background, it was really a special tour with special people.

Shoot As You Walk (Ramadaniat 3)

Nour Kabbara (Original Post)

For the third week in a row, we go to go on another “Shoot As You Walk” adventure. Now I can’t say it was the best I’ve been on because the streets were too overcrowded with people, making it quite difficult to stop and take good photos. I don’t have a story, nor do I have good photos this time, but I’ll share with you this group photo that Taha took for us, followed by a couple of shots I was able to take that night (enjoy!

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