Photo of the Day

A group of my peers from my photography club, whom I very much respect, nominated my picture "Broomstick man" (the extreme close up of the old man from my previous post) as "Photo-of-the-Day." This means a lot to me because I really struggled with exposure on that trip and I'm still getting used to my new camera.

It also means a lot to me because I greatly respect them as photographers.

Hooray!

El Manyal Sheeha Ferry

Today's In Focus outing was to take portraits of the riders of the El Manyal Sheeha Ferry. The ferry is not far from my house and goes El Manyal Sheeha which is just the other side of the Nile from where I live and just South of the pyramids at Giza. This trip was just back and forth on the ferry for about 2 1/2 hours "people watching" with our cameras.

I honestly would not have even known that ferry was there had the group not met there.

I really enjoy hanging out with the photographers, even though I don't understand most of the conversation. Most of them have some English, so we share pictures and tips - I think they are finally warming up to this Westerner hanging out in their midsts. They are all lovely and invited me to join them for breakfast today, but after a late night out last night I needed to come home - maybe next time :)

For now, I've included a few of my portraits in this post. I struggled a little bit with exposure today (the sun was in, the sun was out, we're in the ferry, we're off the ferry) but overall got some good shots that I'm happy with.

I'm Fine

Hello all. Surely you've heard the news that there was a bombing today in the Khan-el-Khalili and that's why you are reading. I am fine and was no where near the blast site - which is about 30 minutes away downtown.

Remember, this is a global community and I'm as safe here, if not safer, on a daily basis, than in Baltimore City. People do not carry guns here and muggings are unheard of - unlike the area of Baltimore where I taught every day for the last two years.

Things are in fact fine here and I have very little information about the bombing except that it is the area where I took photos last weekend.

You can always text me, email me, or chat online if you want to get hold of me! Thank goodness for the immediacy of information sharing!

Lazy Weekend

It's hard to have a lazy weekend here. You guiltily think to yourself "I'm LIVING in EGYPT, I have NO RIGHT to just LAY AROUND! I MUST EXPLORE!"

Not today. Today is a lazy Friday, and tomorrow will be a lazy Saturday, and there will be no adventures to report this week.

It's okay, though. Two weeks until I vacation in Cyprus and I'll surely have loads to report then!

More Camels!

I know I've gone on about this before; but I really, really love camels (and photography).

We went to the pyramids yesterday. Yes, the pyramids ARE impressive - really amazing! Also impressive were the no-is-not-an-answer tactics of the touts - but that's not a story for now.

For now, let's bask in the beauty of my very favorite animal on earth: the camel.

First, we have the tattooed camel, whom I think very much resembles a tauntaun.


Next, We have the enormous camel hiding among the ruins at the base of the great pyramid.


Finally, let us observe man on camel, truly dwarfed by the Great Pyramid at Giza.








Thanks to the folks at In-focus who are helping me become a better photographer!

Best Day Yet!

Today I had what I could easily describe as my best day in Egypt yet.

I began my day early, at 7:30 am I walked down to Rd 9 (major shopping drag) and grabbed a cappuccino before boarding the metro to El Malik El Saleh. Today I was meeting the In Focus photography group on El Maynal, an island in the Nile that I had never been to. I got there quickly (and a bit early) and met a gal from Quatar named Jude while we waited for the other participants to arrive (including my friend Mai who had invited me along).

The destination of the tour group was Dahab Island, a little 5 kilometer long island in the Nile that is a working farm community with no motor vehicles on it. To get there we had to take a ferry boat; which the group leader graciously paid for.

Once on the island, we were almost immediately taken hostage by small children clamoring to have their photo taken. What I did not know was that this group had been to the island before and promised to bring back copies of the photos they had taken of the children. While the mothers and children excitedly looked through the photos I saw a grumpy little girl in a doorway who was just precious and snapped my favorite photo of the day.


After leaving the first little village area, we crossed a dirt path between two fields to the main village where the church and the mosque were. Here again were many children wanting their photo taken, but more interesting to me were the beautifully painted walls and shutters of the buildings. From above (there is an overpass span that bi-sects the island) the village looks like an assortment of abandoned, jumbled buildings; but at street level we wandered through colorful canyons of pink, blue, orange and green. On many walls images of airplanes and boats were painted to commemorate pilgrimages.

We emerged from the second village into another open field where we now tread an even narrower path South, through fields and past homes. To our left and right was the Nile and just beyond the far banks rose towering apartment blocks that stood in stark contrast to the verdant green fields we strode through on the island.

Throughout the morning the people we encountered were very friendly and, though they eyed me with suspicion at first (what IS this White Lady doing with all these Egyptians?) my hellos and good mornings in Arabic typically put them at ease a bit. One grandmother stopped me to take a picture of her grandson; I ended up taking a picture of them both and showed it to her. "Good, Good" she laughed (in Arabic) and we said our goodbyes.

After leaving the Island around noon, I headed back to Maadi to meet my friend for lunch. Ran into some other friends and had a quick bite and then boarded a bus to Wassi Wassef for staff choir practice.

Wassi Wassef is an art center South of Giza that has been around about 40 years. They train local people (starting at a young age) in weaving, batik, and pottery and then sell the pieces for them. The weaving was really intricate and beautiful - and unfortunately out of my price range. I did however procure a few postcards of a really fun camel tapestry, and a small ceramic vase that I hope to fill with flowers tomorrow.

Of course, we were there to SING, and, despite having a terrible sore throat for the past 3 weeks, I sang along. My voice is now gone again. But how can I care after such an amazing day of adventure?