Whirling Dervishes!

Even though it's 11:30 pm and tomorrow is a school day, I couldn't wait to post.

Tonight I met my photography club peeps in the Khan-el-Khalili to attend the Sufi Whirling Dervish performance. This performance is free, and, during Ramadan, apparently extra-special.



The show was amazing! (and I took 500 pictures to prove it!)


The music (all live drumming, zills, flute, etc) carried the Sufis away as they danced. The man pictured above danced in the center of the stage, spinning, for roughly 30 minutes while the drummers played and danced around him. He never stopped spinning the entire time! while his skirt of many colors flew about him. There were layers to the skirts that were removed and held overhead or at floor level in different parts of the dance that created a beautiful kaliedescope on the stage.


I've never seen anything like it. As I'm not very skilled at action shots, and as a girl standing in front of me kept leaning into my shots right as I snapped my camera, I will likely end up tossing about 300 of the 500 photographs I took, (I am posting 3 of my favorites here that needed little editing) but I am very happy with most of them and can't wait to go back to the show as a simple spectator!

Alex III

It's time I covered my trip to Alexandria with In-Focus last weekend.

I started the day with a 5:30 am get-up and go. The taxi missed a turn and I missed my cappuccino as a result; but no matter, our group kept us well watered, pepsi'd and snacked on the 3 hour bus ride up the Alex Desert Road.

I'd never been up the desert road before and it was an interesting experience. Not very much desert, these days. 6th of October city looked like a DC suburb with mini-malls, stylish office parks on beautifully manicured lawns, exclusive communities of villas, and coffee joints...*sigh*

Upon reaching Alex, we met up with the Alex In-Focus group and visited the first neighborhood on our adventure: a small neighborhood that definitely is off the tourist track. The tiny winding streets were full of laughing children, kindly old ladies, older gentlemen full of character, and very curious residents wondering what these 50 or so odd photographers were doing in their streets.

After about 2 hours in the first area, and some of my best pictures of the day, we moved on to the Alex I was familiar with, near the fort. Fortunately, I teamed up with some new friends (2 of whom were residents of Alexandria) and discovered some new things: the fishmarket, the boat yard, and - best of all - Fuul and Tamaya (light, fluffy version of falafal). The three of us each had 2 sandwiches; one fuul, one tamaya - and the cost of all 6 sandwiches was 78 cents (and were DEEELICIOUS!) I also, FINALLY, got a cappuccino!

I thought that was going to be the end of the day (I really must read my emails more carefully). We had finished up the second area at 4:30 and I was ready for a nap. However, we still had one more neighborhood to visit, a fishing community about 20 minutes away from the city center. This community had beautiful boats and a beach. We spent about 2 1 /2 hours between the neighborhood and the beach, and I got some nice shots; however I was tired and the slightest annoyance (even a precocious child begging and begging me to take more pictures of her) was wearing on me. By sunset there was no where I wanted to be more than home in bed.

At 8:30 / 9:00 we left for ... DINNER!

That's right, at this point, we finally headed to the restaurant back near the city center for a fish dinner. The food was incredible! Seafood Soup and Salads (tahina, etc) to start, followed by fish 2 ways (deep fried and grilled with tomatoes and onion), calamary, shrimp, and rice ... all included with our day trip! The company was excellent as well, as I sat with some of the ladies I'd been hanging out with all day. (including my friend Noura's mother who had taken me under her wing in the morning).

Finally, at 2 am, thanks to a new friend who gave me a ride from where the bus dropped us off downtown, I got home. 20 hours of photography, 200 ok pictures - about 40 that I consider "good" and loads to think and talk about. All-in-all a good day.

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.

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?