Last week, I announced the launch of the Cairo Photo Tours, part of a new and active group of companies based here in Cairo Egypt, and it has been fascinating watching on Woopra where the interest, responses and traffic has come from. If you don’t know about Woopra, you must. It is totally addictive!

With the launch of the Group, The Photo School and the Photo Tours, as well as the Focus For Humanity Foundation, some of the detail about the Nile Photo workshop with Matt Brandon that was also announced, may have been a bit suppressed, so forgive me if I soap-box for a minute and share with you again why we think this is such an unusual workshop and why you should come on it. In fact in some difficult to justify self-promotion, you can watch Matt and me chat about it in the short video clip below too:

What marks this workshop out are 5 main differences and in no particular order these are:

1. There are currently no other photo workshops that are run in Egypt, which despite the challenging bureaucracy here, surprises me. The weather is always good here (sometime a little too hot if you had read some of my earlier posts from the planning trip!), and in October – when we are doing the workshop – the temperature is a very comfortable 34-36 degrees Celsius in the day and high 20C in the evening. But what marks Egypt out, as a really wonderful workshop location, is the extra-ordinary wealth of cultural photography opportunities and the warmth of the Egyptians’ hospitality.

2. Secondly this is not a workshop spent in basic hotels, in guest housed or on long train journeys – not that those are bad things as they often help you immerse yourself in your environment. But on this trip we are based on a luxurious private Dahabiya- a large twin masted Sailing boat – that has no motors and therefore is in harmony with the wonderful sites and culture we will see. If the wind fails us, then a small tugboat will help us keep on schedule. The Dahabiya is in effect a luxury floating hotel – the standard of the rooms and en-suite facilities, the cleanliness of the public spaces and the kitchens were the equal of many a small luxury hotel (and arguably I should know as that is part of my other day job!). There are all mod cons including wifi, Satellite TV, laundry, free soft drinks and as far as I can work out, hot and cold running staff to cater for every eventuality. The food promises to be great, and the only potential fly in the ointment is that the boat does not have a liquor license – but worry not. I already have a cunning plan that solves that!

3. Thirdly we are mixing the traditional “must see’ locations between Luxor and Aswan such as the Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple, The Colossus of Memnon, Edfu and Philae temples with a host of unusual, seldom visited locations. Ancient mud-brick villages, livestock markets, ruined mines and a range of different villages including the Nubian village near Aswan that completely astounded Matt and me. In this last village we will get to spend a whole day with a Nubian family – sharing their lives, building a relationship and hopefully getting a compelling photo essay into the bargain. It is this mix of formal and informal and of ancient and modern that helps to make this trip so unique. In all these places – the only exception being the Valley of the Kings where cameras are banned – we have chosen them because of the richness of cultural, landscape, street or environmental photo opportunities that they will provide.

4. Fourthly – and unusually – we have some space for partners to come along. Not many, so you need to be quick, but we are hoping that this might encourage some of you who would otherwise find it difficult to come to such a remarkable place without your beloved other, to convince them that this is finally a photo workshop that they can come on without having to play second fiddle to a camera all week! The Partner program is really a relaxed Nile cruise. In the mornings they are with us when we visit the temples, tombs and historic places. In the afternoon they are able to relax on board or explore the local town and market. Relaxing on board is pretty civilized too – endless free soft drinks, a jacuzzzi, sun loungers, books, board games and Sat TV should occupy most people! In the evenings we are all then together for dinner.

And if that was not enough to persuade you, there is also the option of a Cairo pre-extension – perhaps that should be ”pretension”! A few days soaking up the atmosphere, getting into the groove, visiting some of Cairo’s extraordinarily rich cultural opportunities. We plan to have dawn at the pyramids including a photo opportunity with a camel train; visit the camel souk (check out Matt’s superb photo essay on this); whirl with dervishes, barter in the souks, bazaars and explore the narrow streets of the Old City full of artisans and daily life.

Anyway, enough from me. Please check out the itinerary for both the main “cruise” and the “pretension”. All the details, the costs, lots of images, the prices, what to bring and how to book are over on the dedicated tour website, Cairo Photo Tours.

In the few days since we soft launched the tour, we have already sold a number of places, and several firm expressions of interest. So don’t tarry. You know you want to come. Print out the itinerary, sit down with your loved one, talk it through and then book the trip of a lifetime in October 2011 down the Nile.

But, despite this, we are striking a rich seem of cultural images.

My hopes that we would uncover a rich tapestry of life, culture and opportunity seems to have been borne out. We have had to work really hard to educate our guide and driver what we mean by “cultural photography”, but as each day progresses he takes us to better and better locations.

For someone whose life is lived showing people the ancient culture of the pharaohs, he looked at us slightly quizzically at first when we said “Yes, that temple is really great, but we want to see culture that does not include temples or tombs”.

“Why”, you could see him thinking, “did you decide to come to Luxor and Aswan then?” Why , indeed!

Well I think our images begin to hint at why. Matt Brandon has just posted some wonderful images that he took yesterday in the camel market and a Nubian village, and given that we are only spending an hour or so in each location, and not really “working” the opportunity, it highlights just how exciting and rich that opportunity could be.

The contrast between the dark skinned Nubians in their colorfully painted villages and whose women are happy to be photographed and the lighter skinned Luxor West bank Egyptians in their traditional mud brick houses is interesting in itself. There is a common thread though that emerges: The welcome, the hospitality and the offer to sit and drink “shay” – the leaf tea laden with sugar that is an excuse to stop and rest but also provides much needed energy to combat the sapping nature of the sun. It was 50C at 6pm last night! But beyond this the different mosques, culture, villages and variety provide plenty of opportunity.

Quite why we chose to recce a September/October workshop (cool breezes, a balmy 35 C during the day and a comfortable 25C in the evening) in the heat of June is something I am still scratching my head about. Well of course I know the answer. A combination of my availability and the opportunity to garner advice and insight from Matt Brandon whilst he is here on vacation, but I think we are both realizing just what a challenge the heat is and what we must avoid to make it comfortable for workshop participants.

Anyway, the workshop is really taking shape. We have adjusted some of our thoughts and ideas since my last post to accommodate a better use of the right time to shoot photos and enough time to relax, reflect and discuss.

We have viewed a number of different boats and Dahabiyas – the large sailing boats of the old nobility that look like Feluccas on steroids – that ranged from cheap health hazards with no soul or personality but masses of space, to undisputed luxury.

The actual Dahabiya

Inevitably with such exclusivity and luxury comes a more intimate experience and fewer cabins, but I think from some of the pictures below you will agree with us that this is worth it. I was blown away by the facilities and luxury on one Dahabiya, and this has helped us shape the workshop into a more exclusive and defined proposition.

So our current thinking is to take a luxury Dahabiya with up to 10 participants. The single supplement is very expensive (although available) because space is at a premium, but one other option is a “partner program” that will allow your partner to share in much of what you do on the cultural side and enjoy a luxury cruise down the Nile with you – though the places may well be limited for this, given that priority must be given to photographers.

The lessons we learned about the heat and the light, suggest a program geared around early mornings and late afternoons, with time in between spent cruising down the Nile in luxury, undertaking critiques, mentoring sessions, processing your images. Each lunchtime is taken on deck by the BBQ as we sail to our next destination. For the partners they get to see all the temples and tombs with us in the morning and in the afternoon can sunbathe on deck or be pampered on board, as we sail gently down the Nile to the evening location and shoot.

A luxury bedroom onboard

The afternoon/evening sessions will focus on cultural photography in villages, markets, mosques and some other locations, before returning for cocktails and dinner on board.

It is different, compelling and given the level of luxury, the number of guided visits and the uniqueness of what we are offering, tremendous value. And if you decide to bring your partner along you can fell less guilty about the luxury and the sites!

We are also investigating a Cairo pre-extension. Arrival for example a few days before the main tour to spend a day immersed in the souks and bazaars of Old Cairo, a day out at the Wadi, Oasis and ancient pottery villages at Fayoum, a morning at the fascinating Camel market and probably a dawn visit to the Pyramids to watch the sun rise and the camel trains pass in front of these majestic structures before joining up with the main group on the Saturday.

Details will appear within the next week or so, so keep an eye out, and we are expecting that places will go very quickly!