Threesome Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

3 syncronized Nubians walk on the dirt road after crossing the river on the ferry. We are in the west bank of Aswan and the road leads to several villages located along the margins of the river Nile. I asked someone about the villages and he answered: "there is the village number 1, 2, 3, and 4. Which one do you want?". I wanted to find the real life there and followed them to the first village while contemplating the interesting architecture along the way - the one seen here seems to be the ruins of a small mosque made with mud-bricks.

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The people of the Nile Valley:

Although the Nile Valley and its Delta represents a mere four percent of Egypt's surface area, it is home to 95 percent of the country's population. While Cairo and Alexandria account for about a quarter of this, the bulk of the people still live in small towns and villages and, as in pharaonic times, the fellaheen or peasant farmers remain the bedrock of Egyptian society.
Most villages consist of flat-roofed mud-brick houses, with chickens, goats, cows and water buffalo roaming the unpaved streets, and elaborate multi-storey pigeon coops (the birds are eaten and their droppings used as fertilizer). The plastered outside walls of the houses are often painted light blue (a colour believed to ward off the Evil Eye), and if the householder has made the pilgrimage to Mecca, they will be decorated with characteristic Hadj scenes (recalling the journey with images of ships and charter jets, lions and the sacred Kaaba). Children begin work at an early age: girls feed the animals, fetch water and make the dung patties which are used for fuel (though primus stoves are increasingly popular), while by the age of nine or ten, boys are learning how to farm the land that will one day be theirs.
Rural life might appear the same throughout the Nile Valley, but its character changes as you go further south. The northern part of the Valley is wider and greener, unconstrained by the desert hills; its people have a reputation for being quietly spoken and phlegmatic, notwithstanding a recent turn towards Islamic radicalism. By contrast, Egyptians characterize the Saiyidis of Upper Egypt as mercurial in character, alternating between hot-blooded passion and a state known as kismet – a kind of fatalistic stasis. To non-Saiyidis, they are also the butt of jokes mocking their stubbornness and stupidity. A further ethnic contingent of the southern reaches of the Valley are the black-skinned Nubians, whose traditional homeland stretching far into Sudan was submerged by Lake Nasser in the 1960s.

Source: Rough Guide to Egypt book

lucasgalodoido, vascao, feather, stego, Gerrit, Photo65Net, Cricri, macondo, zeynepe, s_lush, mikolaj_kawa, paura, ymrk, fayeulle, AiresSantos, nivaldo, trekks, danos, Emile, manatee has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

fayeulle (26547) 2008-11-05 1:29

Hello my neighbour today
Typical Nubian roof to avoid the hot temperature.
Nice view but perhaps to strong shadows for my idea
Cheers
JP

ymrk (9142) 2008-11-05 1:30

Merhaba Ricardo;
Good views and very nice compo.Wonderfull shot and sharing,
Good bye,
See you later

YAĞMUR

paura (39306) 2008-11-05 1:37

Ricardo,
Linda fotografia, com uma muito boa composição e fotometria. A construção, incluindo os grafites, está mais que interessante e o jogo de sombras um eficiente elemento gráfico.

Abraço

Paulo

mikolaj_kawa (31287) 2008-11-05 1:45

Ola Ricardo! Very interesting scene. Interesting place. Original composition. Good contrast. Well done!

giorgimer (21478) 2008-11-05 1:49

Hi Ric,

another excellent shot, it was a good choice to include you between my favorite photographers ;)
I like a lot the architecture and the signs on the wall. Very good idea to include the three men.

Well done!

Gio

jasmis (51023) 2008-11-05 1:59

Interesting house and fine silhouettes.
Regards.

zeynepe (9362) 2008-11-05 2:36

Hi Ric,
You showed us a situation where a group of friends are talking about the dinner they went to the previous evening. These 3 men thought that the drinks were good on the other hand, meal was bad at dinner:D(I am a story finder!!!)
As an amateour painter what I like the most is again the beauty of Arabic alphabet on the wall cos the curves within the letters make them look like pictures.
Um abroço,
zeynep

macondo (13271) 2008-11-05 3:17

Hello Ricardo.
A lovely shot, so well composed and timed to catch the three figures silhouetted under the tree. Great interplay of light and shadow, and good detail brought out in the tree's foliage. I like to see those patterns on the mosque and the wall. Very nicely done.
Regards,
Andrew

jmdias (19899) 2008-11-05 6:02

ricaRDO

esta ficou bem legal, gostei do enquadramento dos personagens, da sombra escura da árvore e da arquiterura simples. os grafites estão bem interessantes, caso estivesse lá eu teria feito um close up das garratujas maiores mescladas às menores, criando uma compo abstrata e cheia de grfismo. de qualquer maneira é um belo trabalho este aqui, manda- nos para o local sem escalas

abraços

jorge

Cricri (43762) 2008-11-05 7:59

Hola Ric
Une image ombre et de lumiére et de ses maisons aux formes et texture particuliére, belle note sur la vie quotidienne de ce pays
Have a nice day for you
cricri

Photo65Net (43096) 2008-11-05 10:19

Salut Ricardo,
Nice catch.
I like your compo here, and of course the warm tones are very pleasant.
Have a nice day,
JB.

Gerrit (36287) 2008-11-05 10:56

Hi Ricardo,
great one.
The silhouettes of the men under the tree and the beautiful little mosc. And ofcourse the arabic graffity.
Regards, Gerrit

stego (22478) 2008-11-05 11:10

Olá Ricardo,

Com este título vai haver muita gente a vir vê-la, esperando encontrar outra coisa. LOL!

A língua inglesa pode ser muito traiçoeira. :D

Mas tens razão, é um trio. Gosto imenso do equilíbrio algo inesperado trio / cúpula, do jogo claro / escuro e da diagonal muito subtil da nesga de sol entre a árvore e a sua sombra. Não sei se foi intencional, mas tb. não deixa de ter a sua piada o "alinhamento" e similaridade de formas entre a parabólica e o crescente no cimo da cúpula. Tb. gosto do efeito gráfico dos arabescos pintalgados no muro.

Está visto que Assuão te inspirou bastante. Tb. é um daqueles sítios onde gostaria imenso de voltar com tempo. Sinto isso com quase todos os sítios de que gostei, mas sinto Assuão é daqueles em que esse sentimento é mais forte.

Um abraço, José.

emka (22357) 2008-11-05 11:18

Hi Ric, Very interesting architecture, indeed. I haven't seen anything like that in Egypt. Interesting scene of the everyday life. You are right, it is probably the ruined mosque, as it is written Allah, i suppose.

regards

Malgorzata

feather (50154) 2008-11-05 12:43

You really got into the heart of the daily life while you were in Egypt. Another well composed image with the inclusion of the tree to fill the plain sky. Of course the silhouetted people are a great addition to the scene.
kath

chris04stop (2513) 2008-11-05 14:51

The tree and the three, Ricardo. Where are going the men? Who knows? The tree, that wonderful tree, will stay forever there. Lucky tree...And the destiny of the three men? Again: who knows? That's life. Bravo Ricardo, SO a beautiful, deep, emblematic photo!
Ciao,
Anna Paola

vascao (192) 2008-11-05 15:44

Olá, Ricardo.
Composição com uma luz de difícil manejo, mas, você se saiu muito bem. Teria cortado aquela pequena estrutura azul à direita, que distrai um pouco e não acrescenta à imagem, que está muito elegante mesmo assim.
[]'s
Sergio

lucasgalodoido (16789) 2008-11-05 17:17

Olá Ricardo,
bem interessante mesmo essa foto, as silhuetas dos homens ficaram ótimas, e achei curioso esse muro assim todo riscado, pra mim isso era coisa de americanos que esportavam seus lixos pro resto do mundo, não imaginaria ver isso em um país de maioria árabe... Vas saber o que está esctrito aí, hehe.
Parabéns e Abraço

AiresSantos (42924) 2008-11-06 1:10

Bom dia Ricardo
Mais uma bonita foto desta tua visita ao Egipto. Pela tua descricao deve ter sido muito interessante. Excelente POV e detalhes como a escrita em arabe.
Um abraço Amigo
Aires

nivaldo (13401) 2008-11-06 5:52

Ainda estou sentindo o calor e os "efeitos" da disenteria que tive aí , fazendo o Cruzeiro no Nilo, Aswan - Luxor, em Maio passado ... Não deu pra esquecer ...
Egito, um país curioso.
Bonita fotografia Ricardo.
Grande abraço,
Nivaldo

trekks (14334) 2008-11-06 6:28

hello Ricardo

I find the shadow and silhouette of the 3 men to be well defined in contrast to the color tone of the building here in bright light, showing writings on the wall and good texture.

Nice DOF in this shot. Really very different way of life shown here.

tfs, bill

danos (33300) 2008-11-06 7:13

Ola Ricardo,
nice this medieval shot from Nubia of 2008.I like the atmosphere and the essence of this region of Egypt,evoke me a feeling that i'm back to the past.Well done my friend.

Regards,Danos

gilou530 (35700) 2008-11-06 12:56

salut ricardo
un petit contre jour bien dosé pour les trois personnages dans un paysage typique et plein de charme, belle maitrise de l'expo
amitiés
gilbert

Emile (20127) 2008-11-06 13:46

Hola Ricardo.
Muy buena fotografía con una buena vista de la vieja mezquita, los colores y la iluminacion están estupendos, me llama la atención la magnifica silueta de los tres hombres. Tu POV y definición están perfectos.
Abrazos.

manatee (4297) 2008-11-07 13:24

Wow que interesante nota escribiste, Nubia fue una potencia y alguna vez lucho con Egipto, ademas se cree qeu sus piramides fueron primero que las de egipto. Wow espero algun dia poder coner estos lugares sorprendentes.
Me gusto la arquitectura de este lugar, es muy original, especialmente ese domo con la lmedia luna arriba, me imagino que es una mezquita o algo asi, ademas las personas vistas por detras con sus siluetas, lo hacen mas mistico.

Un abrazo amigo y saluduos

Elias

ahmetgedikli (22128) 2008-11-07 23:55

Merhaba Ricardo,
This is a beautiful shot! I like the composition, colors and light.
Best wishes,
Ahmet

pablominto (41372) 2008-11-08 2:26

Hello Ricardo,

An interesting documentary of another culture!
Different but with similarities too, I notice the graffiti even if I don't understand...
The three guys passing the shade from the tree really stand out against the brighter background!

Greetings,
Pablo -

edal (6601) 2008-11-08 3:38

Ola Ric,
what an unusual architecture! When I look at your Egyptian shots, I feel enriched - those things are so different from what we see in Europe...
Friendly regards,
Anton

Angshu (34119) 2008-11-09 21:00

Ola Ricardo
Those honeycomb shaped houses are certainly interesting & makes this picture stand apart. Fine framing with the tree on the left with the foliage covering half the width of the image, with the silhouette of the threesome adding to the compo. Good exposure control for this finely composed shot.
Friendly Regards
Angshu

Bluejeans (33081) 2008-12-02 14:24

Oi amigo ,
Interessante composição com estes três homens de negro , gostei da parede lateral com as palavras árabes pintadas e da cúpula cheia de buracos deve ser algum sistema de ar condicionado e de luz :), parabéns!!
Um abraço Gonçalo