This image is a scan from a slide I took on my very first photography trip. The year was 1996. I had been living in New York by then, and I had only recently fallen in love with photography. After a short period of learning how to use a film camera, I packed 35 rolls of film and flew to Egypt.
This was one of the first photos I ever took. And while yes, it’s the pyramids — a subject that has been photographed countless times — standing there with my own camera, framing them through my own lens for the first time, felt nothing short of miraculous.
I’ve returned to Egypt since, in 2022, but that first moment, the first time standing in front of the pyramids, remains unforgettable. There’s something that takes hold of you, a kind of bewilderment. You look at these massive, symmetrical, ancient structures and your mind goes quiet. You don’t know what to do with the sight. It makes no logical sense that they are there, that they still stand, that they ever came to be.
Before I went, someone gave me a piece of advice. They told me not to bring my thoughts, my references, or anything I’d read about Egypt. They said to just stand there and see. Really see. With no overlay of what I thought I knew. And I did. I stood in front of those pyramids without expectation, without textbook knowledge, without mental noise.
In our time, it’s so hard to do that. We walk around with ready-made references in our minds. We look at places and people with a catalog of comparisons and conclusions already formed. It’s rare to truly see something as it is.
But I believe we still have that ability. We can still connect to what’s essential, what’s original, what cannot be explained but can be deeply felt. That’s what the pyramids gave me. That connection. That reminder.
I know there is a third trip waiting. And it will happen. Egypt has a way of calling you back.
3 responses to “Returning to the Miracle~”
That actually is an unusual shot. I can imagine how you remember your feelings as you stood there…
Funny how that shot reminded me of my father who was brought all his childhood in Egypt. (My grandfather worked for the Canal)
And yes, I agree, never bring too much pre-digested when you go to a country. Better to go walk the streets slowly, explore, and let the city come to you…
Bonne semaine.
Yes exactly, leaving room for what needs to appear… the image was taken at sunrise when you could come very close still to the pyramids without any people there.
Alone at last. 😉