february's last grey day

There are days when the weather decides to perfectly reflect your mood.

metro and mosque

saturday sublime

Life sometimes unfolds in a marvellous and quiet way.

guilt

This day passed with absolutely nothing from me.
I tried to draw.
I couldn't.
I hate this feeling.

Maybe tomorrow.

friday in the afternoon

It was a day you could fall in love.

someone's got a new tube of paint

...and a lousy webcam!

This is my Moly for Moleskine Exchange 34. I've been adding some arteries, blue waves, black swirls and branches throughout the book to tie the work of our creative group together. I think I'll draw a little something in that big black swirl beside the lovely lady drawn by my friend Yoda Navarrete.
Not sure what yet...

forgotten sketches

passing moments

I thought it would be fun to take pictures walking through a crowd without aiming at anything or anyone in particular, just to see what comes out.

I love Istanbul.

the mall has it all

...including indoor ski slopes, giant aquariums, and front-door parking for Lamborghinis and Maseratis.

reaching for the sky

My friends, I give you the world's tallest man-made structure: Burj Khalifa.
At 828 metres— that's 2,717 feet— the Burj is so tall that my little camera could not fit the entire thing in it, no matter what angle I shot from. I tried up close, I tried a little farther away, but this is the very best I could do. It was entertaining to watch all the tourists and locals crouching down and bending backward, trying to fit the tower in their own cameras.


The Burj is actually quite stunning. It reminds me of some sort of beautiful mythical tower in a science fiction movie, stabbing the sky and gleaming in the sunlight. It was originally named Burj Dubai, but when Dubai found itself stuck in the middle of an economic crisis, neighbouring Abu Dhabi bailed out the emirate and renamed the tower Burj Khalifa, after Sheikh Khalifa, President of the United Arab Emirates and emir of Abu Dhabi.

Most of the region's workforce is made up of migrant workers from South Asia— this is apparent everywhere you turn your head in Dubai. Your cabdrivers, cashiers, waiters and waitresses, hotel concierges and construction workers are all from somewhere else— people who needed to leave home in order to provide. According to Wiki, there are some labour-related controversies that surround the Burj, namely that labourers and skilled workers were making less than eight dollars a day back in 2006, and working and living in "abysmal" conditions.

Looking at the exquisite, shining structure, I can't help but wonder about all the people who lent their hands, backs and sweat in making this building rise to such a height, and I remember a drive down California's coast a few years ago, where in the blistering sun, under faded straw hats, I saw a small army of Mexicans bent over in the fields, picking tiny red chilies for American mouths.


This world is often an incomprehensible place, and I am thankful for what I have.

build, build

In spite of the economic climate, Dubai continues to grow.