There are few places in the world where you can walk in the space of 15 minutes from an Oasis, lush pasture, past a waterfall, to a sandy beach, a lake and then within minutes be in a barren and inhospitable desert. Egypt is such a place and a couple of Saturdays ago I replaced my normal Friday dawn foray to the camel market with a trip to an area south west of Cairo called Al Fayoum.

Only two hours from Cairo by road, Fayoum is renowned for its year-round warm climate, numerous water wheels (introduced by the Ptolemies in the 3rd century) and lush agricultural land. Cotton, clover, tomatoes, medicinal plants and fruit are all grown here.

The main purpose of the trip had been to shoot the sunrise at Egypt’s only waterfalls, about 40 kms west of Fayoum. My Egyptian friends had been encouraging me for months to go to see these “spectacular” phenomenon and they can be a persuasive lot.  The light, they told me would be magical – and a fair recompense for the 3.30am start.

I guess I should have listened to my inner alarm bells. As you will see from the images the waterfalls are really more of a water tumble – in total probably only about a 20 foot drop, hidden from the dawn by the steep walls of the small river.

The light was flat and the location a challenge to find a good angle form which to shoot.  This disappointment was compounded by getting there about 30 minutes late despite having driven like Jensen Button in the pitch dark because one of them was nearly an hour late! One of the delights about Egypt is that a national characteristic seems to be a wanton lack of the “time and space” planning gene. Now for someone like me who spent 13 years in the Army, this is the short-cut to high blood pressure, a short fuse and broken friendships.

That said we got some fun images of the lake and the old wooden fishing vessels, and then headed west about 20 minutes into the desert to photograph some wonderful landscape shots for an hour or so.

We then drove to the pottery village of Nazla which is extraordinary – sat deep in a natural depression, with “modern”, and I use the word loosely here, villages all the way around the lip. It is a place that time has passed by.

A small collection of potters whose straw huts and method of making hand made pots and urns are unchanged for thousands of years, work tirelessly at their craft. It felt like stepping onto a film set, and if Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor had walked around the corner  dressed as Anthony and Cleopatra I probably wouldn’t have been at all surprised – other than the fact that Richard Burton is dead and Elizabeth Taylor hardly moves at all these days that is!

The potters were happy for us to take pictures, and would even re-work a gourd or a pot whilst we sought different angles or different light. It was however challenging shooting. Very confined spaces, dark interiors, with harsh exterior light, and without a flash, it was difficult to get a good balanced exposure. Stupidly I had left my speedlite at the top of the hill, in the car, as I was trying to carry as little as possible whilst I wandered around the village.

It was a real lesson in having to find ways around the exposure challenges, including the use of impromptu reflectors and diffusers made from old sheets or a piece of old white wood. I played around too with handholding lowers shutter speeds on a wide angle lens, using a new more composed grip. I got some pleasing results too.

As we headed home we saw these men fanning out masses of orange flowers in a small yard to be dried by the sun. We drove down the short track, and in true Egyptian style, they stopped their work and welcomed us with open arms. The light was fading fast, but they laughed, joked, threw flowers at each other as we snapped away. Everything that we suggested they do, they seized upon as an opportunity for laughter. When we bought out our pogo printer they were mesmerized, and of course another round of posing and tomfoolery was initiated. I am constantly heartened by the warmth and good nature of the Egyptians. Their openness, their interest in anything non-Egyptian and their delight at the simplest of gifts – a small pogo print for example – never ceases to warm the heart and leave you feeling upbeat at the end of a tiring day.

We left them promising to return. In fact i am keen to go back and spend the day there soon as I think they will make an interesting photo essay subject.

What had started as a frustrating day of missed opportunity, had become rich with hospitality and opportunity after opportunity.  Fayoum is a photographers paradise, and high on my list for inclusion in a workshop that we are planning for late 2010/early 2011, to be led  - we hope – by a world renown travel photographer. More of that in due course. You can see the other images – especially the landscape and the pottery village in the gallery.