I Believe in the Power of Photography

Growing up in a family that only cared about academics, I never really got to experiment things and discover my creative side. But a year ago, I was fascinated with the art of photography, particularly the kind of photography that tells you a story, the kind of stories that people would normally struggle to describe using only words. I believe in the power of photography.

It is true what they say, that a picture is really “worth a thousand words,” but what little did I know. Photography wasn’t easy.

I remember how my fascination with photography began during the January 25 Revolution in Egypt. I was inspired by various brilliant moving shots of Egyptian protesters. These images eventually went viral and kept spreading like wild fire. I still remember photos of Egyptian women chanting at the top of their lungs in front of the Egyptian policemen, the face of a 45-year-old Egyptian man who was crying during the first million man march in Tahrir Square. All astounding exceptional images that inspire me until today.

These pictures went viral because they were telling the truth; they were honest, creative and different. And for the first time, I felt Egyptians appreciated that, and so did I.

I felt like I was seeing a new Egypt, the Egypt I never saw before. The future looked great and bright, and I felt photography played a major role in delivering a different kind of truth to Egyptians, a photographic and documented one, and that was photography.

I was inspired. I was inspired to discover, experiment and explore. Egypt was no longer touristic pictures of the pyramids or the gorgeous beaches at Sharm El-Sheikh.

To me, photography was about discovering the unknown, and that was Egyptian faces and their freedom of expression, something which the world never really got to see about Egypt before the revolution. 

But my inspiration did not end there.

I signed up for a photography class in the summer of June, about five months after the revolution. I learned all about using a camera, adjusting the aperture, experimenting with the shutter speed and trying unusual angles to capture photos.  Boy was it tough!

And while I recall my struggle to hold a professional heavy DSLR camera for the first time in my life, I will never forget the feeling.  That rush, that excitement to go beyond the gates of my university and finally exploring what I was missing out on. I went as far as Tahrir Square, Zamalek’s graffiti streets, Maadi, Azhar Park, Cairo Tower, Khan El-Khalili and Fayoum. 

I will never forget the images I captured of a poor Egyptian family that worked on a farm in Orabi.

Their facial expressions and features were priceless and simple. Anyone could tell that they were a kind family. They welcomed me in their humble home, and I specifically remember how they did not have a single family portrait in their house. It was depressing, but they were thrilled the day I knocked on their door and asked to take a family portrait of them that they dressed up for the occasion. 

I was touched, and realized the significance of photography in one’s life. It wasn’t just about the truth to me anymore, but about what the picture meant to me and to a greater extent, to the person looking at it.

It was an experience worthwhile. It was unforgettable, memorable and carved in my memory forever. It was the power of photography, something new that I believed in.

This I believe.

Journal #1: World Vision Report

The Food That Fed a Revolution

Length: 4:41
Reporter: Assia Boundaoui
Hosts: Rachel Snyder and Beverly Abel

World Vision Report’s audio feature, “The Food That Fed a Revolution,” mainly looks at an interesting, staple Egyptian dish called, Koushary, which was best served by Abu Tarek’s restaurant during the January 25 Revolution.

The feature mainly explores how, despite the fact that the January 25 Revolution prompted many restaurants to shut down due to lack of security and stability at the time, the only source of food Egyptians survived on was that one only dish, Koushary, and the best restaurant that served it nearby to Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the revolution, was Abu Tarek’s great restaurant.

The audio, 4:41 minutes long, first begins as two hosts, Rachel Snyder and Beverly Abel, describe Tahrir Square very briefly, yet they add some colour to this bustling place saying that it continued to occupy thousands and thousands of people every day where people were “sleeping there, praying there and eating there.”

Reporter Assia Boundaoui then begins the audio feature as we start hearing nat sounds of Abu Tarek’s restaurant, where you can hear plates and utensils clicking together in the background, creating a visual image in our head that the restaurant is busy and seemingly, full of people.

But Boundaoui grabs the attention of the listener as she gives us the feeling that Tahrir was more than just a square, that it was a significant place that had a great impact on the Arab World and not just Egypt, and that Koushary was just as significant as it was part of Egyptians’ daily revolutionary meal. This is evident as she says: “Abu Tarek’s restaurant is just down the street from Tahrir Square, ground zero for the protests that have swept through the Arab World, and there’s only one item on the menu: Koushary.”

Her description of Koushary is very catchy, and gives us an essence of how it is significant to Egyptians, especially that she describes it as “Akla Sha’bya,” an Arabic expression that she translates to “the food of the people.”

Not only is her narrative catchy and attractive, but it gets even better when she goes into further detail of describing the dish as she begins mentioning those ingredients that make the Koushary what it is. She describes and mentions ingredients like “layers of pasta, rice and lentils, are topped off with fried onions and tomato sauce,” creating a vividly visual picture of a dish that she succeeds in making sound so delicious as she describes what it consists of.

What remains interesting throughout her audio piece was her interview with one of the restaurant’s chefs, Omar Araby, who helps us know different things about the Koushary, such as who consumes it and how it’s prepared, for example.

In addition, she provides us with background information about Abu Tarek’s restaurant, and how it grew bigger and bigger over the years from being a “simple food stand” into a busy, crowded restaurant filled with regular, loyal customers all the time, even during the time of the revolution.

This all gives us a sense of how unique this dish is, in terms of its ingredients and its cultural value, not only to Egyptians, young and old, but to foreigners from all over the world.

But when looking at the nat sounds, we obviously notice how they don’t really change from the very beginning of the audio till the end, making Boundaoui’s audio sound effects repetitive and boring as she keeps talking for 4:41 minutes.

And may be part of the reason why her feature becomes a bit dull and boring, is perhaps because it is a little too long. I don’t think it was necessary for Boundaoui to talk about Koushary in what was close to 5 minutes. She could have used less time.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

Although her narrative skills and description of the Koushary remain exceptional, the overall production quality is quite terrible.    

Boundaoui’s voice sounds a bit muffled, too soft and low in contrast to the very distracting nat sound that she had used, i.e. the clicking of plates and utensils at the restaurant which all appeared in the background.

Her nat sounds become a little distracting as she speaks about Koushary and Abu Tarek’s restaurant, and this is true because the nat sound is louder than her voice that it becomes hard for the listener to try to focus on what she’s saying while attempting to block the “noise” sound effect that she used in her feature.

Not only that, but her voice and that of the chef’s for instance, don’t really seem to make a good balance in terms of the volume and tone. So she appears to be talking very softly, and suddenly, when the chef starts to talk, his voice becomes so loud compared to hers.

Despite the low quality voice of the narrator and the quality production problems in this feature, the audio feature was still interesting to listen to. It was interesting to know what was so special about this dish, what it consisted of and how it was prepared, and why, of all foods that could have been consumed during the revolution, this was the only meal that Egyptians ate.

However, I think I would have loved to hear a little bit of a historical background about the dish, for instance: when did Egyptians start eating Koushary, or for how long have they been eating that meal.

I believe that if Boundaoui’s feature was shortened, sound volume was fixed and nat sounds were different throughout the audio, then the overall production quality would have made this feature perfect in terms of delivery, production and basic sound effects.