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EGYPT IN THE SADAT YEARS

54 images Created 8 Jul 2012

I lived in Cairo, Egypt, in the 1970s, endlessly fascinated by the Mamluk architecture (13th - 15th centuries), the complex social hierarchies expressed in peoples’ behaviors, and horseback riding across the desert around the pyramids at Giza and Saqqara. I bulk-loaded Tri-X film in my Canon F1 camera, wandered around in a blak galabeyya and veil, against which the black-bodied camera was not conspicuous, and made endless exposures which I developed in the pantry of the villa where we lived. I’ve scanned those old negatives, developing Photoshop techniques to remove the dust spots and scratches and to minimize the ferocious Tri-X grain. Here’s a core selection from I saw in Egypt during the Sadat years. They are available as RF stock downloads, fine art exhibition prints, or cards. Click on any image you'd like to examine more closely.

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  • Egyptians: village leader with his subordinate hasten on an errand.  While both men wear the traditional galabeyya, the leader strides along in white sneakers.  He looks fiercely at the camera, while his associate wears a timid expression.  Low viewpoint, from the pavement, showing both figures against a vast sky and flat landscape.
    Egyptian village leader
  • Profile view of a young man seated atop a bundle of grasses on his donkey as they walk along a causeway across the Nile in Upper Egypt.  He holds a stick.  The donkey wears a hobble on one foreleg.  Vask plain sky and landscape beyond.  Viewpoint is low, level with the roadway.
    Riding a donkey in Upper Egypt
  • Cheerful crowd of about 12 men and boys riding on the running boards and roof of an ancient automobile.  Rear seat interior appears unoccupied.  They are crossing the Nile on an Upper Egypt causeway.
    How many passengers can an old car c..rry?
  • Jumping and yelling crowd of 15 pre-adolescent boys in a Cairo slum enthusiastically greet the photographer on a pile of rubbish near a building wall.  Their positions form a rough pyramid in front of the plain dark stone wall, and their eager grins set a cheerful note.  Mostwear striped pajamas as their day wear.
    Rabble of cheerful boys in a Cairo slum
  • In the mosque doorway, 5 pairs of shoes scattered anyhow just outside.  A tattered straw carpet in front, a tile floor beyond made of black and white tiles in a checkered pattern.  The disorder of the shoes and the orderliness of the tiles form a striking contrast.
    Scattering of shoes outside a villag..gypt
  • Seen from the back, a neat row of 11 men with one more leader in front of them is seated on their heels in the course of doing their prayers.  The qibla and wall in front of them is elaborately inlaid with multicolored marble discernible despite the monochromatic image.  The mosque dates from 1415-1422.
    Men in orderly prayer at a Cairo mosque
  • Cairo school headmistress and hadji on the balcony of her school; janitor sweeping beyond her.  The headmistress wears a peaceful, mellow expression, as she has just returned from Mecca.  Her white scarf and drapery indicate this, though in the bright sunlight she must be very hot.  At the other end of the balcony, a subordinate, female servant sweeps the floor, her back turned to us.
    Egyptian woman hadji, recently retur..ecca
  • Egyptian farmer bent over a simple, ancient,  plow, as it is being pulled by a pair of cows.  Telephoto shot compresses their bent pale shapes against a stand of tall grasses.
    Simple plowing
  • Persian water wheel turned by cattle in upper Egypt.  Closeup shows the gears of the wheel.
    Persian water wheel turned by a cow ..gypt
  • Horse's head in the foreground, as seen by the rider.  Across the desert, all three Giza pyramids are seen.  Beyond, in the valley, the city of Cairo.  Faintly, further in the distance, the Moqattam Hills.  The horse's head and neck seen in the foreground, mane blowing in the wind, ears pricked toward the pyramids, looking eager and interested.
    Princess (a chestnut horse) at the P..Giza
  • Man bearing crate of tomatoes on his head, walking past some bales of hay near the town of Giza; pyramids of Cheops and Chephren beyond. He wears a striped galabeyya.
    Crate of tomatoes
  • Great Pyramid, northeast corner, a boy descending the northeast corner edge is silhouetted against sky and puffy clouds.  In the 1970s people could, and did, frequently climb to the top of the Great Pyramid.
    Climbing down the Great Pyramid of Khufu
  • Goat mother with two black kids on the lower blocks of the Great Pyramid, Giza.  Point of view angled upward toward the sky..
    Three goats on the lower blocks of t..hufu
  • Two goats opposite each other lean on a wooden box as they reach up to share a nibble of hay.  One animal is black with white spots, the other white with dark spots.  Real life and real animals assume a heraldic appearance.
    Goats in heraldic symmetrical pose
  • Old and new buildings on a street in the Garden City neighborhood of Cairo.  In the foreground, a leaky 1950s era plain concrete structure (apartment building?)  with sliding glass windows still taped up; beyond a carved and balconied 19th century apartment building.  The contrast is apparent.
    19th and 20th centuries in Garden Ci..airo
  • Three managers consulting plans of a new factory in the desert. They stand among piles of bricks.  In the distance, a factory complex already build gleams faintly.
    Industrial development in Egypt
  • Cluster of three men riding donkeys while in conversation, along a road in the desert near Giza above Cairo.  High viewpoint from part way up the Great Pyramid.
    Three men on donkeys near Cairo.jpg
  • Teen aged boy carrying a pack on his back, hung from a loop over his head, gazes wearily and solemnly at the camera.  He is wrapped in a filthy tunic and surrounded by angled wooden beams.  His sensitive mouth and gentle expression makes one wish better for him.
    Child laborer on a construction site..airo
  • Two construction laborers take tea while seated on a rock pile.  The tea is in a tin can.  Both are barefoot, wearing ragged galabeyyas.
    Egyptian construction laborers.jpg.jpg
  • The girl, about 10 years old, wears a school uniform, her hair neatly braided with a rag and a bobby pin.
    Egyptian schoolgirl writing on a bla..oard
  • Two pairs, three men and one boy, seated at tiny tea house tables, deep in conversation.  One of the men wears trousers and modern dress, the other two and the boy wear the traditional galabeyya.  All are deep into their talk, intent on their subjects, one obviously speaking and the other listening.
    Two intense conversations
  • Aged women at a meeting in Cairo.  Image focus is on the folded fingers and steady gaze of a wrinkled and ancient female, surrounded by 5-6 others who are blurred but whose faces form a frame around her.
    Portrait of an aged Egyptian woman
  • Mosque caretaker sweeping the floor seems to be sweeping the sunlight projected from windows on the exterior wall.    Their Islamic piercing pattern also projects onto the mosque pillars.  BAround and behind the sweeper, the pointed arches recede, also illuminated by sunlight.   This is a rare image of the mosque interior.
    Sweeping sulight in the Ibn Tulun mo..airo
  • The mosque caretaker opens the interior shutters to the morning.  His gowned figure is silhouetted against the iron grillwork of the window.  A folded newspaper is in his left hand.
    Opening to the morning
  • Mosque, tomb, and madrasa of Qala'un, Cairo, built 1283-85.   Symmetrical detail of pendentive and balcony embrasures in this medieval mausoleum.  It has been replaced and repaired but still shows the delicate tracery typical of Islamic architectural ornament.
    Ceiling detail in the Qala'un mausol..airo
  • Mosque, tomb, and madrasa of Qala'un, Cairo, built 1283-85. Mashrabeyya details focus on the carved wooden screen with its spindles and incised patterns.  Beyond, a blur.  What life must have looked like for Muslim women long ago.
    Detail of a carved wooden mashrabiyya
  • Mosque, tomb, and madrasa of Qala'un, Cairo, built 1283-85. Interior, mashrabeyya doors, opening toward the columned courtyard.  An atmosphere of peace and calm pervades the space.
    Mamluk architecture interior
  • Interior rooms of the Bayt el Razzaz, an abandoned Mamluk palace in urban Cairo.  A door stands ajar, showing sunlight streaming into the adjoining room.  In the 1970s, the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) funded explorations, and in 1995 UNESCO funded a status report: http://www.unesco.org/archi2000/pdf/morton.pdf
    Interior of the Bayt el Razzaz, an a..lace
  • Interior of a typical old Cairo house in Mamluk architectural style.  Sunlight throws a shadow of a lamp in the foreground against the qibla wall beyond.  The chair and water jars indicate that the house is somewhat cared for, if not actually lived in.
    Traditional Mamluk house interior in..airo
  • At St. Paul's Monastery, ancient (5th century) Coptic structure still in use, two women consult a priest.  They are in the shadow of an arched passageway.  The priest's head is bent to listen, while one of the women gestures towards him.
    Two women consult a Coptic priest in..gypt
  • Cairene laundress outside her home; immaculate white galabeyya hanging to dry above her smiling face.
    Smiling laundress
  • Fatima weaving a tapestry at Wissa Wassef workshopat Harraniya, near Giza.  Fatima is an artist and master craftswoman, one of the original child weavers taught by Ramses Wissa Wassef.  For more information about these spectacular tapestries, see http://www.wissa-wassef-arts.com/intro.htm.
    Tapestry weaver at Harrounia, Egypt
  • Magazine seller offers a copy of the magazine for sale at her street kiosk.  Vertical image.
    Egypt-Israel peace treaty
  • Rural mother carrying her infant on her shoulder in typical Egyptian manner. Each wears brightly patterned outfit.
    Mother and child in traditional rura..gypt
  • The two-masted sailboat, the traditional Egyptian felucca, is being used for freight -- a load of stone blocks (granite? marble?)  One crew member stands at the rudder while the other jumps off the bow into the water, holding the rope for tying it up.  Masts, sails, and jumper are all reflected in the still river water.
    Felucca tying up
  • Riverscape, with the city in the distance.  In the foreground, a wooden rowboat, its oars held by the husband, while his wife sits opposite smiling gently.  Though clearly poor they radiate dignity, kindness, and trust.  A water jar hangs off one gunwale, and a fishing net off the opposite gunwale.  A canvas covers the rest of their belongings in the prow.  See the book "Khuul Khaal" by Nayra Atiya to learn more about them.  The rowboat is their home.
    Portrait of an Egyptian couple livin..boat
  • Tom, Jeanne, Robert, Isabel, and John Tifft, with two white mice, sit in a row for their portrait while sailing up the River Nile.
    Family portrait
  • Muezzin performing the call to prayer at Qait-bay mosque, City of the Dead, Cairo.  Hands over his ear in the traditional posture to aid in concentration.
    Egyptian muezzin calling.jpg
  • Female teacher with four preteen girls in traditional dress, trying to play catch with a basketball.  The teacher wears Western dress and high platform shoes while the girls are barefoot on the dirt ground of the schoolyard.
    Egytian preteen girls playing ball.jpg
  • Seated man in galabeyya, perhaps drugged, offers a pipe to the photographer.  In a Cairo slum,
    Egyptian hospitality.jpg
  • Egyptian soldiers in uniform line up self consciously  in front of a wall for a photo in Cairo, 1979.
    Five Egyptian soldiers.jpg
  • Pyramids with a flock of crows
    birds in flight over Pyramids.jpg
  • Saddle horses rented from the MG stables in Giza are given a rest and a roll in the sand after being ridden.
    Horses relaxing near Pyramids.jpg
  • View from the saddle: riding along the demarcation between the Sahara desert and the Nile Valley, headed toward the Giza Pyramids.  Late afternoon sun casts sharp shadows.
    horseback riding toward Giza.jpg
  • Mosque of el-Muayyad, Cairo; three door keepers in traditional galabeyya converse while a fourth strides through the doorway outside toward idle young men in trousers seated on the wall.
    Egyptian traditional vs contemporary...jpg
  • Doorway of the Mosque of the Sultan Al Mu'ayyad, (built 1415-1422) next to the Bab Zuweyla, Cairo; doorkeeper, seated with his shoes off, hand to his face.  He may be hiding from the camera, or he may be just resting or napping.   Door is heavily ornamented with repousse Islamic patterns.  Sunlight floods into the doorway.
    Islamic door and resting doorkeeper
  • Portrait of an aged women at a meeting in Cairo. Her gesturing hand suggests predictions or perhaps witchcraft.  Glints of gold jewelry.
    Egyptian old woman crone.jpg
  • Traditional and modern dress worn by a neighborly group.  Cairo.
    Egyptian traditional vs modern dress.jpg
  • Farmer, an Egyptian fellah, dips canal water using the traditional shadouf.
    Fellah operating a shadouf.jpg
  • View northward (toward Cairo) from the top of the Aswan Dam.  Low slope toward the river Nile sheathed in cut stone.  Shadows of pedestrians at top.  Desert and river recede to the horizon.
    Nile_river_Aswan Dam
  • First cataract of the Nile from top of the old Aswan Dam, replaced in the 1960s by the Russian-built present dam.
    Nile_river_Aswan
  • Camel eating from a pile of berseem clover near the Giza Pyramids, two of which are visible behind the creature.  Stems hanging from his mouth blur as he chews.
    Camel eating berseem in Giza.jpg
  • Two men adn three women Muslims at prayer on a straw mat in a private garden in Maadi, Egypt
    Muslims at prayer in a garden.jpg
  • Desert view from the back of a chestnut horse, whose ears show in the image.  In the distance, two other figures on horseback.
    Horseback in the Sahara near Giza.jpg
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