Postcard from Alexandria, Egypt, November 1911

Evidence of the Journey. A long-ago trip to Egypt and the Pyramids.  A postcard with Greek handwriting bearing a postmark from Alexandria, the gateway to Egypt.  A view of the pyramids, perhaps as seen by Alexander the Great himself.

Over a hundred years have passed, yet somehow this postcard survives. I gaze into its ancient landscape and wonder at the many stories it could tell.

– with love for the journey.

Old Postcard from November 1911, Pyramids, Alexandria, Egypt

A sister ship to the African Queen, moored beneath a highway bridge over the Nile near Aswan in Egypt.  How many voyages up and down the river she must have made.  Now she lies still in her mooring, under the uncaring canopy of a modern steel and concrete bridge.

She has had a most satisfying existence, and doesn’t want you to feel sorry for her.  She waits for that time when someone will free her and take her on new journeys.  She wants to be in motion again, like her ever-flowing river.

– with love for the journey.

Photo by Lou Ann Granger, Egypt, March 2009

An early morning image along the Nile River, accidentally turned sideways, suddenly reveals the boundary between the ‘real’ world and a hidden world.    If  you look closely, you can discern the banks of the river on the right and their reflection on the left.

Such a thin boundary.  From this sideways point of view, it is easy to imagine stepping back and forth between the two worlds.

But for now, the mirrored image completely obscures the river’s hidden world.  We see nothing below the surface to let us know the true world of the river, not its contours, nor its life forms, nor its currents.  Instead, we see our own world twice.  What are we missing?

– with love for the journey.

Photo and processing by Lou Ann Granger

The best kind of insomnia, jet-lagged wakefulness on arrival at an exotic location.  A view from my hotel room at the Mena House Oberoi in Cairo in the early dawn hours.

The excitement of watching the pyramids slowly emerge from the shadows as the day begins.  Wondering what adventures the day will bring.  Anything seems possible.

– with love for the journey

Photo by Lou Ann Granger

Beside a busy street in the Giza section of Cairo, our bus passed the fruit stand so quickly that it was almost a blur.  But hidden in the original crummy photo were the faint imprints of the vivid colors I remember.

A little bit of Photoshop photo alchemy, and the transformation captures more accurately the color and feel of that brief moment of memory.

Travel and memory are so closely intertwined in my mind, and I have tried so many ways to capture and preserve those moments.   Journaling, sketching, photos, and more.

It’s never quite enough, though.

– with love for the journey.

Photo and post-processing by Lou Ann Granger

One of the men told me he thought well of Cairo.  It was interesting.  “Take it from me,” he said, “there’s a lot in seeing places, because you can remember ‘em afterward.”
– Rudyard Kipling

This was a hurried moment in downtown Cairo.  Captured while rushing past many intriguing stores and shops on a quest for some art supplies for the Nile expedition the next day.   Feeling hot and harried, no time to stop and visit, just collecting first impressions on a busy sidewalk.

Yet, buried in the depths of what started as a very ordinary photo, there lie unexpected layers and textures, which are only uncovered afterward on reflection.  Reminding me, once again, that the real journey continues long after I return home.

– with love for the journey.

Photo by Lou Ann Granger, Cairo, Egypt
postprocessing with Topaz Adjust plugin for Photoshop