Express Egypt: How to Frustrate a Wanna be Street Photographer!

It is almost time to start the long journey home after cruising around the Mediterranean and the Middle East. As a tourist it has been a fascinating tour however as a photographer it has been a great learning experience which at times has been very frustrating. To explain, one must understand the nature of a cruise. You have the opportunity to see many countries and cultures however the time in each is very short. For example, we were in a port anywhere from 5 hours to 24 hours. This may sound like enough time to get several great photographs however in each country we had a bus tour to see the highlights. When you are on a group bus tour, you must stay with your group at all times. This means if something catches your photographic eye off to the east you can not go if your group is going west! I did a great deal of dashing around to catch up with my group. Another inhibiting factor is that at each site you may only have 15 to 30 minutes and they tend to crowded with 1000's of other tourists.

A good example of a frustrating tour is Egypt. We arrived in Egypt at 6 am and were told we had to be back on the ship by 8pm. Since I have never been to Egypt before it seemed important to me to see the great pyramids, the Sphinx and King Tut tomb. As we boarded the bus at 6:30 am I was very excited to photograph Egypt. As soon as we started our drive through the streets of Alexandria I immediately became frustrated. Everywhere I looked was a wonderful image. Images such as children on their way to school, busy narrow streets filled with people dressed in their Muslim attire, laundry hanging from the windows of close knit somewhat run down appartments. The reason for my frustration was that I was trapped in a bus driving quickly past all of these sights and I know we were not returning until well after dark. I quickly snapped photographs through the dirty window of the bus trying to capture some of the images. First I tried using my Program setting and then my Shutter Priority setting. At 40 to 60 miles an hour, one does not have a lot of time to make creative apeture or framing choices.

I remained calm telling myself once we reached Cairo and the Pyramids I would have my photographic chance. The drive to Cairo is 3 hours each way. Once we entered the city the traffic was crazy with cars, trucks and buses all honking at each other in a continuous chaotic symphony. As our guide pointed out the lines used to designate the lanes are considered by most drivers as only a suggestion! Suddenly the Pyraminds appear right in the middle of the city. As our bus lined up along side at least 25 other buses we were told we had 20 minutes to see the Pyraminds. Now in order to get close to the Pyraminds it takes a good 10 minutes to walk up to them. So needless to say there is not alot of time to find interesting angles to frame a shot. I was also interested in trying to capture the Tourism police on Camel back. Back on the bus and off to a panaramic viewpoint of the pyraminds where there are also very (lets say) "friendly" vendors promoting camel rides to all the tourists. I was more interested in photographing the native men on the camels not the tourists. This costs $1 dollar a shot and they are very posed, not what I wanted. Here we were given a total of 15 minutes. Then back on the bus to the Sphinx where we had another 15 minutes to visit this monument. Gates and fences surrounded the Sphinx so I managed to take a couple of photos through the bars of the fence. Again back on the bus where we drove off for lunch in the upscale part of Cairo. At our lunch stop I thought perhaps I could take some street photographs of Cairo however we were instructed to leave all our cameras on the bus. We were scheduled to visit the Museum after lunch and there are no photographs allowed in the Museum. If you brought your camera, security would take it away and you may not get it back. So for the next three hours I had no camera.

The Museum was fascinating and well worth the trip to see King Tutenkhamen's tomb. The burial chamber was discovered within four huge wooden boxes. One box inside the next like the Russian dolls. Inside the last box was the Kings coffins, the mummy , the mask and all of his belongings he wanted to take to the next world. The burial chamber contained statues, jewleru and of course the pure gold inner coffin and mask. They are in such pristine condition that they look brand new not thousands of years old.

After our Museum visit, we headed back on the bus one last time for our 3 hour drive to Alexandria and our ship. As we drove back through Alexandria, the streets were again filled with people mingling around the sea wall. The atmosphere was so lively and active. I would have loved to capture it. However between the low light situation and being a prisoner behind dirty glass going 40 miles an hour passing all the wonderful images. I have to rely on my own memory not my memory card.

I learned a lot about Egypt. Did you know the population of Egypt is 80 million and 40% of this population is under the age of 16 years old? I saw some of the highlights of Egypt however I have very few good photographic images. Most of my photographs are from the inside of a tour bus and taken through a dirty, dusty window. Needless to say most of the pictures are blurry or hazy looking memories. As compared to "Street Photography", I call them my "Tour Bus Images"!