Egyptography II

All photographs 2018 ©Frank Ward.

We found these 2 carpenters in a Cairo mother of pearl workshop. Actually, they found us. The first gentleman came calling after us as we passed his very dusty alleyway adjacent to the dusty alleyway we were already enjoying.

What a great country Egypt is. In every village, town and city, engaging alleyways lead to more alleyways and most alleyways eventually connect to  market streets.  Above is a market in Aswan and below is a shop in Cairo.

I appreciate Egypt’s multi-leveled environment. Egyptians naturally layer their surroundings so all surfaces and spaces are in use. Many of the resulting stacks remind me of Renaissance art. I recall the Italian paintings where angels are flying above the legendary events happening below. When I make pictures I always look for something of interest to place within the top area of the frame.

I like the “Tourism and Antiquities Police Investigation Unit” sign above.

Photographed from upstairs in an Aswan antique shop.

The view from our hotel balcony in Luxor. The top restaurant is called Punt Land, a wonderful football reference.

Cairo curio shop.

A souvenir mummy at the Cairo Museum shop with a man sleeping out the window.

A walk along the Nile

Inside a tomb, Aswan

The tail of the Sphinx, Giza

Waiting for the fashion show to begin.

Fashion show and audience on my last night in Cairo.

Throughout our time in Egypt, I observed cultural and social behaviors, such as what people wore and what they drank, that seem to be all of the following: celebrated, discouraged, protected, illegal, enjoyed and tabu. What is troubling Egypt is complicated and, like most countries, growing out of a need to improve the quality of life for all.

Fayum portrait circa 100 A.D.

One thing that we can actively engage in to increase parity amongst the people of the world is to support women on every front. A small step toward that end, in photography, is to support the Women’s Issue of ZEKE Magazine.

The Women’s Issue is now available, presenting feature articles by women photographers and writers on sexual violence, women & work, climate change, and more. Available at www.zekemagazine.com/womens-issue .

Disclosure: I am on the Advising Board of SocialDocumentary.net and write for ZEKE Magazine, I am not in the Women’s Issue.