Gone Fishin’

The Nile River, near Luxor, Egypt

It is Monday. Ok, really it is Tuesday … I missed Monday. Something about a long day and wine afterwards. Never mind. Still, it is a work-weekday and I spent the day in my office, having a long day — inside at my office computer on a glorious day when I could have been outside in a new place and taking pictures. Still, I have to admit my day job isn’t as bad as some could be. Take the guys in this picture, for instance: They are out in the sun every day, in the middle east (where the sun is really hot) — and all in hopes of a few fish to sell at the market. They have no money, but they do live in a wonderful culture in a fabulous and beautiful place, where people are friendly, religion is unambiguous, and one’s obligations are few and clear. Am I ready to chuck it in and move to Egypt? Maybe….

“Touring Egypt” series, photo one: Over a couple of trips I have collected a number of images from Egypt. Just for fun, let’s run an Egypt series for a couple of weeks. Each image will offer a chance to show another attraction or sight from that fabulous nation. To be sure, this is not the first photo I have posted from Egypt, but nonetheless it is the first of this Egypt series. We’ll see how long I can keep it up.

About this photo: This was taken near the beginning of a Nile River cruise just after we departed Luxor en route to Aswan. I do not know the name of the small town in the background, but it is on the west bank of the Nile River just south of Luxor. The fishermen in the foreground are a common sight on the Nile River. Fishermen usually work with two men to a rowboat. They set a net, then one tends the net while the other beats the water around the boat with an oar or pole to drive fish into the net. It was just about noon when this image was taken, and conditions in this case seemed to conspire to improve this scene: The sky was clear (not unusual in Egypt), offering a perfect clear blue reflection in the water, but there is smog or dust obscuring the horizon, which brings the foreground into sharper focus. I always use a circular polarizer filter to cut down on reflections and bring out colors on a sunny day.

(Nikon D200, Nikkor wide-zoom at 170mm, ISO 400, f/10 at 1/400 sec.)
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 19:20 PM. It is filed under Land & Air, thePhotoTourist and tagged with about this photo, boat, boats, cruise, Egypt, fish, fishing, Luxor, Nile, Nile River, not_uw, On Tour in Egypt, photo tip, surface, touring, Touring Egypt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.