Egypt! (56k warning)

ulrikft · January 20, 2008

Hey! I am on a trip to Egypt atm, and wanted to share some images..

Windmills outside Hurghada:

Local boys playing ball:

Fresh squeezed orange juice at the market:

The view from our Hostel in Cairo:

Breakfasttable in the Hostel:

Cairo by night:

Narrow alley in Cairo:

Our best meal the entire trip: Old guy's shop in old Cairo:

Old Mosque in the old part of Cairo:

Large

More Cairo by night:

Desert sunset:

Morning Coffee in Cairo:

Old fashioned shaving in El Gouna:

One of many wild doves:

Morning light being great for portraits..

Yet another desert sunset:

Water Pipe evening:

Cairo shoe shiner:

Attempt on washing clothes in Cairo: (I think the smog makes everything grey...)

Fellow amateur photographer trying to capture a belly dancer during a show:

The actual belly dancer (

)

I hope you liked the images, I'll be putting up more when i get home to a better screen, more stable internet and more time!

ShepsMom · January 20, 2008

These are nice, really shows a lifestyle. Where are the pyramids??

ulrikft · January 20, 2008

ShepsMom wrote:

These are nice, really shows a lifestyle. Where are the pyramids??

I didn't actually go to the pyramids:P Shame on me, I'll do that the next time!

Glad you liked them!

Awais Yaqub · January 20, 2008

Beautiful series
really like all shots but BW's have some special feel !

Tee Why · January 20, 2008

I was expecting to see the cliche snapshots of the pyramids. These are nice street photos. Very moody images, good play of lights and tones.

1andyw · January 21, 2008

I love your street shots, Ulric. The b&w's are especially well done.

Thanks for sharing,

AndyW

Tessa HD · January 21, 2008

beautiful - i enjoyed looking! your morning portrait is stunning!

RBrogen · January 21, 2008

Nice shots....great perspectives.

dogwood · January 21, 2008

Nice job! Enjoyed these photos. Last time I was in Cairo, it was so smoggy you could barely see the Nile from the window of the hotel a few blocks away. Your street shots are cool too-- only thing missing is a shot of one of those 15-year-old boy soldiers standing on the street corner with an AK-47.

ulrikft · January 22, 2008

Thanks for your kind comments, all of you! Back in Norway now, stable internet connection and all ..

I'll try to find some more pictures worthy of uploading! Thank you all again!

ulrikft · January 22, 2008

Two quick ones:

The local taxi for the workers:

In the middle of the desert, on a 40 meter long trail... weird:

ulrikft · January 23, 2008

The cleaner at our hotell, the most servicable mind I have ever met!

(considering his monthly pay is about $20, that is a great attribute..

)

Tee Why · January 23, 2008

Another nice one. I'm enjoying this series. I didn't know that the pay was that low.

Any thought about Egypt? I'd love to visit some time.
Any shot of the pyrimids? I'd like to see your take on the subject.

ulrikft · January 23, 2008

Tee Why wrote:

Another nice one. I'm enjoying this series. I didn't know that the pay was that low.

Any thought about Egypt? I'd love to visit some time.
Any shot of the pyrimids? I'd like to see your take on the subject.

Hey!

Egypt was great in my opinion. You ofcourse have to take care not to offend or act rude towards mulims (muhammed caricature t-shirts comes to mind), but that is a given. All in all the egyptians were like everyone else, a mixed bunch. Outside the tourist places, the people were warm, welcoming and very hospitable (is that a word?). In the center of the tourist places you got close to harrased by people trying to sell you stuff.

When it comes to the pyramids, I chose a guided tour (a friendly muslim fellow wanted to show us another side of Cairo, no fee, no nothing.. very large contrast to the yelling salesmen in Hurghada.. :P ) in oldtown Cairo. The narrow back alleys and the smell-rich (what is the positively laden word for smell?) spice shops were priceless!

My general advice about Egypt are:

1) Use public transport. The charter bus to Cairo costs like 250 EGP ($45), the public bus which is just as nice and spends half the time (beacause the driver is the devil behind the wheel mind you, so if you have a fragile heart, don't :P )and costs 1/5 of the charter buses.

2) Bargain, on EVERYTHING. In Cairo they start out 20-50% higher than you should end up on, in tourist places far more.

3) Get a shisha (water pipe), best relaxation means ever

sit in the sunset, eat some chocolate, smoke some apple tobacco and kick back!

I'll try to think of more stuff :P

schmoo · January 23, 2008

Thanks for sharing these, Ulrik! I too was expecting the usual camels/desert/pyramids shots and I was pleasantly surprised to see a wonderful variety of colorful and emotional street shots. I love the portraits of your friend/gf - she is lovely and looks like she was having a great time. I always like shots like that because it adds a very personal touch to the experience. Not only for you because you were there yourself, but for us as the audience because we know it didn't just come out of a tour book.

Anyway, those were my thoughts. I never wanted to go to Egypt as much as I do now! Thank you, again.

ulrikft · January 23, 2008

schmoo wrote:

Thanks for sharing these, Ulrik! I too was expecting the usual camels/desert/pyramids shots and I was pleasantly surprised to see a wonderful variety of colorful and emotional street shots. I love the portraits of your friend/gf - she is lovely and looks like she was having a great time. I always like shots like that because it adds a very personal touch to the experience. Not only for you because you were there yourself, but for us as the audience because we know it didn't just come out of a tour book.

Anyway, those were my thoughts. I never wanted to go to Egypt as much as I do now! Thank you, again.

Thanks for your very kind comments! I'm really glad you liked it.

My advice is: go to Egypt and enjoy if you get the possibility..

MooreDriven · January 23, 2008

ulrikft,

Nice series. What facinates me most is that these are ordinary shots (no offense intended) of life in Egypt. I've been thinking about this for some time, because each of us walk in our own little worlds and don't see the uniqueness of it, compared to other parts of the US or the world.

Your shots give the impression that you're there, a part of the surroundings, not just "viewing a photo".

Dale

ulrikft · January 24, 2008

MooreDriven wrote:

ulrikft,

Nice series. What facinates me most is that these are ordinary shots (no offense intended) of life in Egypt. I've been thinking about this for some time, because each of us walk in our own little worlds and don't see the uniqueness of it, compared to other parts of the US or the world.

Your shots give the impression that you're there, a part of the surroundings, not just "viewing a photo".

Dale

Thank you!

That is why I love traveling, I see new places and get a "freshness" that is hard to find at home..

idjiot · January 24, 2008

Thanks!
Nice pictures! There's a lot of character coming out in your photos, which is really nice. Your portrait photos seem to really do a good job of extracting personality.

ulrikft · January 24, 2008

idjiot wrote:

Nice pictures! There's a lot of character coming out in your photos, which is really nice. Your portrait photos seem to really do a good job of extracting personality.

Thanks a lot!

ulrikft · January 24, 2008

Time for my last picture from the trip..

Not very Egypt-like, but very airport-waiting-for-mum-like! I felt that i just had to get a shot of those three..

Yuri Pautov · January 25, 2008

Ulrik!
Thank you very much for your photographs!
I visited Egypt several times and tommorow is going to do this once again. Going to Sharm.
I understand you when you didnt go to Pyramids :-)
Very well done photographs!
I like taking underwater photos (you can find them at my site), portraits of Egyptians and, of course, landscapes...
This time I am planning to visit Petra in Jordan...
Again Spasibo,
Yuri

ulrikft · January 25, 2008

Yuri Pautov wrote:

Ulrik!
Thank you very much for your photographs!
I visited Egypt several times and tommorow is going to do this once again. Going to Sharm.
I understand you when you didnt go to Pyramids :-)
Very well done photographs!
I like taking underwater photos (you can find them at my site), portraits of Egyptians and, of course, landscapes...
This time I am planning to visit Petra in Jordan...
Again Spasibo,
Yuri

Thank you for your kind comments!

Have a safe journey! Petra is amazing.. With the rght light one can get extraordinare images there! (or, with any light, but still.. :P )

Da svidanja! (is that correct?)

kitvan · January 25, 2008

lovely set! My brother just returned from Egypt with a little point-and-shoot...I doubt he got anything good compared to these...Thanks for sharing!

ulrikft · January 25, 2008

kitvan wrote:

lovely set! My brother just returned from Egypt with a little point-and-shoot...I doubt he got anything good compared to these...Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for your commenet!

Egypt! (56k warning)

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