[Leica] Shakespear of Arabia

[Douglas Barry]

Have you read "A Line in the Sand" by James Barr. It's about the Sykes-Picot 
Agreement of 1916 and the long term implications of it that are still with 
us today.

Douglas

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Crawford" <chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com>
To: <lug at leica-users.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2015 9:28 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Shakespear of Arabia


Captain William Shakespear was an officer in the Indian Army (the British
army in India was a separate force from the regular British Army) who
served as a political officer (a sort of diplomat and colonial
administrator) in Kuwait. He traveled a lot in what is now Saudi Arabia,
and photographed the people and places he visited. One of his photos is
the first known photo of an Arab tribal army on the march, made during one
of the wars between the al-Saud and their enemies, the al-Rashid of Ha¹il
in northern Arabia.

If you want to see more of his work, and that of other pioneering
photographers in Arabia, I¹d suggest these books:

http://www.amazon.com/Saudi-Arabia-Caught-Time-1861/dp/1859640907

http://www.amazon.com/Kuwait-First-Photographers-William-Facey/dp/186064271
3

I have both. Until the 1950s, Riyadh, Ha¹il, Buraidah, and other towns in
central Arabia were still mud-brick towns using the same architectural
styles that would have been seen in ancient Babylon! Kuwait town , Mecca,
Jeddah, and Medina were more modern in appearance due to their greater
contact with the larger Islamic world. They looked like towns in Syria,
Palestine, and Iraq did at the time.

The Kuwait book is especially cool because of the many photos of
traditional Arab wooden sailing vessels. The largest type, called a
Baghlah, resembled European sailing ships of the 1700s.

The history of the middle east has always fascinated me. Even if I were
not interested in photography, these two books would still be favorites of
mine.

-- 
Chris Crawford
Fine Art Photography
Fort Wayne, Indiana
260-437-8990

http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com  My portfolio

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798
Become a fan on Facebook





On 1/17/15, 12:26 PM, "Phil Swango" <pswango at att.net> wrote:

>A friend sent this interesting piece about a British photographer working
>in the Arabian peninsula in the WW1 era.
>
>http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-30796539
>
>
>-- 
>Phil Swango
>307 Aliso Dr SE
>Albuquerque, NM 87108
>505-262-4085
>
>_______________________________________________
>Leica Users Group.
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