Blipfoto: Images by Besson

Sunday 1 August 2010: Merchant on Mu-iz...After opening the doors of his "closet" shop, we watched this man pulling his treasures out one by one and arranging them so carefully, then his chair and bench, and filling his Shisha pipe with fine tobacco, ready and prepared for another day of the small merchant life in Cairo... Photograph: Images by Besson/Blipfoto

Monday 2 August 2010: towards The Gate...Bab Zuwiela is the last remaining gate dating to the 11th century, of Fatimid Cairo...This man sat in front of a madrasa ,a school for young people with Down's Syndrome, we think he was a caretaker for them...I asked to take his portrait and he smiled, offered me the tea he is holding, I accepted it and sipped a bit, handing it back, and kneeling to shoot this portrait today of a lovely man, who has given his heart and life to those who direly needed it... Photograph: Images by Besson/Blipfoto

Tuesday 3 August 2010: finest in the world... Egyptian cotton, finest in the world, a costly luxury in the best stores, and here it sits raw, in an open warehouse, on a dusty potholed end of Mu-iz, guarded like a hawk by a tall, gaunt man with a bandage on his wrist, a cigarette between his fingers and no idea what it feels like to sleep on 1200 Thread Count sheets...it is not irony, but simply life... Photograph: Images by Besson/Blipfoto

Wednesday 4 August 2010: wheels and back...So much work here is done as "work", it's not fancy, it's muscular and it hurts, pulling and pushing and shoving and lifting and straining and gulping huge breaths of air, with head down, wet with sweat, every muscle tensed and rigid to move a few meters up a hard, stone street that looks and feels endless Photograph: Images by Besson/Blipfoto

Thursday 5 August 2010: fresh... You may remember this graceful lady from before, and today she was again making her way up Mu-iz Street with a full tray of fresh,warm Pita bread to sell just outside the ancient gate that at one time was a main entrance of Cairo a thousand years ago...striding with confidence, the heavy tray carefully resting on a pad atop her head, she seemed aloof to the stare of an admirer sitting to the side...almost a step back in time watching this scene... Photograph: Images by Besson/Blipfoto

Friday 6 August 2010: Shisha He sits sideways on a chair that has seen better days, shoulder brushing the wall and pulling deep and long on his battered Shisha pipe as the fruity fragrance touches all those who pass, causing some to pause and inhale as deeply as they can before moving on... Photograph: Images by Besson/Blipfoto

Sunday 8 August 2010: Time and difference Roman and Pre-Roman buildings that have had a bit added or subtracted for hundreds of years. The centuries of time and difference struck me so profoundly as I framed this amazing arched gate and watched these two boys walking down the street towards home.. Photograph: Images by Besson/Blipfoto