>


I've just come back from four days in Cairo. Photographically, it was one of the most frustrating holidays ever. Why? Because you are surrounded by the most fantastic documentary/people/travel shots all the time but the opportunities to take photos are so fleeting & limited.

Cairo is an assault on the senses. But now that I have got the lay of the land, I'd love to go back & take many photos I missed out on first time around. The best photo opportunities from a travel point of view are, predictably enough, to be taken on the Giza plateau, where the main pyramids are located.

Happily, the day I went to Giza was a beautiful one, with clear blue skies & a fresh breeze. Having said that, a few puffy clouds would certainly have made my photos more dramatic. If I could go back there now, I'd take loads more photos of the camel touts and their camels in front of the pyramids, & I'd also take a camel ride to the highest POV overlooking the plateau to get a panoramic shot of the pyramids.

As it is, I was running around like a headless chicken, not sure which angle of the pyramids would be the best. I did manage to spend an entire day on the plateau, more time than is considered necessary, but I felt that as the last of the ancient world's seven wonders, the Sphinx & pyramids deserved as much time as I could afford.