Cairo's an ancient city | One of the oldest on Earth | It's congested | It's crowded | It's noisy | It's polluted | It's dirty | Egyptians know this | They shrug and remember "Masr Zaman" | Egypt of the Past
Talat Harb Square | French designed downtown
So during this visit as I made the rounds to see family and do errands, I would occasionally take some snaps. There was no project in mind. I, as a lifelong photographer, and, as someone who is aging and forgetting, take photos as a record of what I was doing and where. These snaps were pretty mundane and with the long hours of visiting relatives, I rediscovered the tintype app and started converting images. I liked what I saw.
A curiosty shop | Khan el Khalili souk | comparison photo
The tintype, a process of photography dating by to its early days in the 1860s, makes things look old, historic and mysterious.
A defunct puppet theatre | Sultan Hassan Mosque | Islamic Cairo
So here are a few galleries from my visit to Cairo |
A sail on the Nile |
There was absolutely no wind, so we were towed upstream and drifted north | beautiful sunset which is unusual for Cairo because it is often too polluted or during most of the year there are no clouds
Scene from the river | Cairo
In search of traditional pieces for a Getty Villa workshop on Nubian jewelry |
The jewelry merchants | photo contributions from my wife, Mona (bottom R) who will be doing the workshop along with our daughter Nabra
And scenes from the Ataba Market |
Patches and stuff shop | comparison photo | A clothing salesman and his display |
and some street views from the Islamic Quarter |
Though I do like the tintype rendition of the more mundane scenes | there are a few I prefer in their original form | such as this mobile coffee merchant and | this art reproduction salesman
An ancient street | portrait of General Mohammed Neguib, the leader of the 1952 Free Officers Revolution | he was pushed out by Gamal Abdel Nasser
Egypt's current President and former Field Marshal and director of military intelligence | Abdel Fattah El Sisi
and going about daily business | Cairo streets |
Clockwise top left | our doorman Hamada and mobile bread salesman | Falak Cafe | Sushi cart restauranteur Islam | Ibrahim Pacha Monument | Opera Square | Sameh, studio photographer and photo shop owner | Agouza
and some scenes about town |
Clockwise top left | the street view from my sister-in-law's home | from my Agouza apartment, a man enjoys a smoke with his morning tea | near in-law's Hoda's home | a Coptic Church in Abdeen neighborhood | a boy climbs out of his family's rooftop home | Agouza
Nubian relative Karam Mourad's concert at the Prince Taz Palace | Old Cairo
a beautiful setting with huge bats flying about | comparison photosMohammed Ali Mosque
Cairo from the window of an Uber ride |
Clockwise top left | stuck in traffic a girl looks out from a taxi | pedestrian 6th of October Bridge | Mohammed Saleh Vodaphone advertisement in Zamalek | waiting for transportation 26th of July Bridge | a man sells parsley among stopped traffic | traffic policeman and statue of General Abdel Moneim Riad, killed during the War of Attrition with Israel | a veiled shopper 26th July Street |
Cairo | City of Cats |
ghost cat passes by news stand vendor | Garden City
and in closing .... |
the Rosto chicken and shawarma delivery guys near my mom-in-law's place | Mit Okba | delicious
.... a sunset |
the sun sets as I head into town on one of the newly built highways linking the New Cairo satellite city to downtown |