Ghaith Abdul-Ahad...

...is a freelance photographer working for Getty Images. He also writes for the Guardian and the Washington Post.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1188945,00.html includes a passage describing how went from being "the world's most underpaid architect, doing ugly work for ugly people who had money to build ugly houses" to his "first job in the world of journalism".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1346697,00.html is his latest piece from today's Guardian, filed from Falluja.

An amusing excerpt:

"The young Saudi teacher ran to fetch a machine gun. With ammunition belts wrapped around his neck, he and a young Tunisian carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher ran outside.

"The Saudi reached a trench. Opening his Qur'an, he read for a while and then pointed his machine gun at the horizon, trying to release the safety catch.

"He fiddled with the gun for a few minutes, then turned to me: 'Do you know how to make these things work?'"

He is one brave photojournalist. I hope he survives.

Buying and selling non-US currency (€, ¥, £, etc.).

I buy cash--paper or coin--from various countries, so that I have some spending money when I arrive. Often people have some left over when they return from their trips abroad, and find that local banks give them lousy rates for their paper money, and won't take their coinage at all. I'll change both paper or coin, at the prevailing rates displayed on xe.com. We both win because neither of us gets charged commission and we exchange at a rate neither of us could get from a bank.

(ladybird97 calls me the International Bank of Leon. This amuses both of us.)

If you have less than $50 or so in non-US currency that you're interested in selling, I may be able to exchange it for US dollars. Drop a comment, let me know what you'd like to sell, and if it's a currency I think I can exchange, we can arrange to meet up.

With regard to buying some of my non-US currency: I have some Estonian krooni and some Hungarian forints to sell. If you are looking to buy other currencies I might be able to help you but I'll have to check. Let me know.