Ablutions
Cairo 1989 or thereabout
I’ve said it before. It’s difficult to find a focal point in a mosque, especially one as large as the Al Azhar. Luckily, as we entered we came upon two men eating their lunch of feta cheese, raw onion and flat bread. They invited us to join them. Let me tell you the food was delicious.
One man turned out to be a cantor…not sure what he is called in Arabic. He took us to corner of the mosque where the acoustics were perfect and cupping his hand to his ear, he sang the call to prayer. Then he showed us the stairs to the top of the colonnade. I shot these people performing the cleansing ritual before they went in to pray.
I’ve printed this in the darkroom and then scanned it to try to get it right on the computer. Somehow it never seemed to tell a story. But today it does. Maybe because the clothing appears to be from another era. I’ve always said, wait long enough and the photos will become interesting. Just think how great they’ll look in a hundred years!