While ancient monuments and temples are a treasure and grand to see, they are not what defines a place That would be the people. And while I don’t specialize so much in portraits thus far, I still made some attempts at catching the people and the places that made up the experience of visiting.
This photo was taken on Elephantine Island – site of a Nubian village which was relocated with the rising waters of Lake Nasser after the construction of the dam. As all over Egypt, there is a mosque nearby and its impressive minaret pierces the sky. This is the source of the call to prayer (5 times a day). Although you might miss one of the later calls, the morning one was sure to get your attention as a western visitor! This lovely print is a mixtures of blues with the single yellow mosque standing out.
This photo is from Daraw, a small village in the heart of Egypt. It’s main draw to tourists is a camel market, but for this traveler, it was far more interesting to see a place less visited and capture a few moments from the every day here to take home with me. This man may push his bike past this corner every day, but I was only there to see it once. For me, this is truly the magic of photography, attempting to capture the every day as something special – as much as I love ancient temples and grand buildings.
One more picture from the same little street in Daraw. This is how I’ll remember this little village, filled with friendly and curious locals. Beneath all the differences, if stripped away, I really left feeling it was no different than my own small home town.
To see more scenes from Egypt, please check out my Egypt Print Gallery.