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Concerning Cairo Sidewalks
Continue ReadingA new resident out for a stroll in Cairo, Egypt will right away notice the lack of continuous sidewalks. Getting around in most neighborhoods requires learning to expect stumbling blocks at every turn. In my district everyone walks in the street hugging parked cars — the only practical choice. Directly outside your building pavement exists […]
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A Woman With Attitude
Continue ReadingThe lady has edge and attitude — in a warmhearted and humorous way. Blended emotions appear on her face, making her expression hard to unravel; without knowing the prior situation and the conversation preceding our photograph, we can only guess. A feeling of disbelief or feigned shock? Whatever happened it seems she knew it […]
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Our Neighborhood Sharpener of Blades
Continue ReadingNot every place in the world has been gutted, renovated, expressed algorithmically, and made palatable to affluent tastes. Cairo, Egypt is such a zone where you may still see unassimilated humans. This man goes through neighborhoods singing a colloquial song: “I make a knife sharp. I make a knife sharp.” As with other street […]
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Another Inscrutable Gaze
Continue ReadingIt is hard to photograph policemen. They patrol our streets in states of hyper-alertness, and immediately notice a camera — or any other human attention — aimed in their direction. They give hard looks and will use their eyes like sharp blades to dissuade you. I managed this candid portrait of a Kentucky motorcycle […]
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The Pre-Teen Beauty Queen
Continue ReadingOf the many perplexing curiosities one finds in the United States, for me the pre-teen beauty queen ranks among the strangest, and the most disturbing. We have strict laws and registration requirements to contain pedophiles — outlawing even the possession of child pornography in digital form — yet parents allow and assist their twelve […]
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Children Playing in Sand and Fog
Continue ReadingA cloud of sand and fog covered Sana’a, Yemen during my one winter’s residence. The odd conditions persisted several days. Neighborhood kids ignored the weather, playing under streetlamps as usual late into evening. On lightly traveled streets Yemeni children stake out playgrounds with exclusive rights; girls enjoy hopscotch and boys organize dodge ball combats — […]
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An Especially Ebullient Man
Continue ReadingThis species of cheerful ebullience eludes me. No matter what potent drugs were circulated through my brain, I could not reach this exalted condition of mind and body. Nevertheless: here is proof that such a state of being is possible. His vintage turquoise pickup truck just adds to the joy.
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The Eyes Are Hardly Necessary
Continue ReadingA portrait requires a look into the eyes of the subject — or does it? Here I think we can tell a lot without the eyes. The lines and folds on the man’s face and neck reveal like tree rings a long life, a witness to an eventful stretch of history. There is an […]
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The Repetition of Like Forms
Continue ReadingElementary treatises on composition advise looking for and capturing photogenic repetitions of similar objects, a fundamental technique. These motifs can be overused, but have not become clichés in my estimation, because subjects can vary so widely. A better description might be stock-in-trade or standard equipment. The street vendor whose cart appears above has carefully arranged […]
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