soothsaying

khan el kahlili, cairo, egypt.

walking through the markets of any country is fun. there is so much local flavor going through it. foods and products are just the start. people hang around playing games. kids are naturally kids. the sounds and smells are something else.

naturally i am attracted in taking pictures of it.

as i took this picture i commented to m-nimsa "this will be a pain to print". it was. heavy midday sunlight on the cat and an unlit room where the men are sitting. what was i thinking.

above is the final version printed on sunday. it took me 23 sheets of paper and three different afternoons to get that far. there are still minor things i would like to explore in the negative as well, like the man reclining way in the background. i'm happy that i am able to get it to even that point. but in the long run, i'll probably won't be able to get it perfect.

in the end i should tell myself not to take these kinds of pictures in the future. but i probably won't listen.

flashback: january 27, 2007

funny how time passes. this was only two years ago though i could swear it was much longer. but it seems to make sense. lucky7s was born half a year after this picture and he's only one and half.

i thought i would make more panoramic images after i took this on.

those pictures never worked out. this is the only one where the borders lies pretty evenly with a black figure. i think it might be y-twokicks head.

a new year

though december 31st and january 1st were spent in the white desert of egypt. the east asian lunar (chinese) new year is one of my major annual deliniations.

i like to get all my film and my work prints done by the new year. i haven't accomplished this in many years, but i come close. i came close again this year.

new years day is pretty standard now. photograph one of the buddhist temples on eldridge street until noon, eat in their basement. head out freeze in chinatown and look for the tai pun residence association and follow their four "unicorns" around. and then try to get to on leong lion show on mott street.

this is off course followed by heading home for dinner where i am berated by family. try to figure out what the new children are named. get asked why i'm not married yet. why am i still traveling around and photographing like a lunatic.

then wait until midnight when i can shower without having the wrath of the ancient gods and ancestors set upon me until the end of the year.

happy new year.

busted

busted to the tune of $75. crossing between subway cars.

the daily grind

i'm back to the daily grind. back the the world of javascript, php, oracle, perl, mysql and java for at least the next 10 weeks.

the audiobooks are going through my ears -- right now it is a biography of alexander hamilton. the nypl library opened up to figure out what i can borrow. financial news web browser in the corner giving bad news.

but i do have a scanner hooked up. that's my out. right now scanning my egypt pictures. well, rescanning the first two runs were failures as they contrast was way off on one, and the curl of the paper made the second unusable.

still thinking constantly about photography. what day should i take down my show. what should i bring to my next trip -- ethiopia in april. should i get my butt moving and work on another project.

but i scan, a picture of a bedouin on the back of a pick up truck with a camel in the background.

and occasionally i write code.

whoosh

MLK weekend to me means skiing. headed up to mount snow. i haven't hit the slopes in three years so lets hope the next post isn't about the inadequacy of the american health care.

like having two christmases

flew home last night. i had a four plus hour lay over in amsterdam. as always, i always check the big board for an earlier flight to stand by on. there was something flying into newark.

i went to the counter to check in for my scheduled flight. they give me seat 2B. i think "oh, great middle seat" until the lady behind the counter says "i hope it's ok, it is an aisle row seat." and then i pause.

world business class.

for the flight, i got a personal screen good service. my seat laid all the way flat. they even built a massage chair into it. of course, i didn't deserve it and was expecting to be thrown out. but i wasn't. too bad the movie selection wasn't good.

but it really was my second christmas this season.

i took my first christmas mass in luxor -- six languages were involved as it was a catholic church in a tourist town. last night, i dropped by the coptic church for christmas mass, i had really no clue what was going on as everything going on was either in coptic or arabic. i did remind me a bit of the greek orthodox services i went to last year.

so, merry christmas.

back in cairo

got back from the desert yesterday. it was a cold cold
new years. but it was good to spend it reminicing about
the past year. i'm pretty luck to have done so much in
that time. 5 continents, 9 countries, 6 festivals. not
too bad.

ive got 6 more days here in cairo. time passes by so
quicly, but standing on the five hour bus back, i realize
that i am still pretty blessed. because most people coming
to egypt only spend a week or so here.

i get to split that time between cairo and alexandria.
(maybe alexandria, i haven't decided to go or not yet).

goal for the weekend... hair cut.

.. and see the pyramids.