Tuesday September 9, 2003, Albu Eitha, Iraq

Yousef family tree

Sheikh Yousef, the patriarch of the clan, has 21 children and 83 grandchildren.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Tuesday March 2, 2004, Karbala, Iraq

Shiite Muslims celebrate Ashura in Karbala

A Shi'a pilgrim, bloody after cutting himself with a knife during the Ashura observances in Karbala, prays outside the Shrine of Imam Hussein. The rituals involving self-inflicted pain are a prominent feature of Ashura as pilgrims wish to emulate the pain felt by the martyred Imam Hussein, who was killed in battle in Karbala in 680AD. Ashura is the holiest day on the Shi'ite calendar and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from Iraq, Iran and other countries gathered in Karbala to participate in the Ashura rituals this year, which were banned under the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Wednesday February 9, 2005, Shashemene, Ethiopia

Ethiopia Shashemene Rastafarians

Laka Gad, 51, claims to be one of the pioneers of Shashemene, having moved there nearly 30 years ago. He claims to have accompanied Bob Marley on his visit to the Ethiopian 'capital' of the Rastafarians.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Sunday April 23, 2006, Cairo, Egypt

Egyptian poet Ahmed Fouad Negm

Egyptian revolutionary poet Ahmed Fouad Negm was imprisoned by both Nasser and Sadat for a total of nearly 18 years. A poet of the people, he writes his verse in the Egyptian colloquial dialect. Many of his verses appear written on the wall of a room on the rooftop of his Cairo building.

Ahmed Fouad Negm leans out a window. Amidst the fragments of verse appearing on the wall surrounding him, the following appears at right: 'I love you my homeland. I love your spring, your youth is awake and your weather is always spring."

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Friday January 26, 2007, Gebel El Teir

Coptic Christianity in Egypt

Coptic pilgrims visit a small cave at the Chuch of the Holy Virgin. Tradition holds that the Holy Family stayed in this cave for four days during their flight into Egypt. The church, believed to date from the 4th century, was partially hewn from rock and was once a monastery. Now, it serves as a village church and is an important Coptic pilgrimage site. Gebel el Teir means "Mountain of the Birds".

Coptic Christians visit a religious icon inside a small cave at the Church of the Holy Virgin.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Tuesday August 23, 2005, Cairo, Egypt

Egyptian lawyer Mohamed Hashem

Egyptian lawyer Mohamed Hashem, 32, was formerly a member of an Islamic group.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Wednesday September 7, 2005, Cairo, Egypt

Egypt holds historic contested presidential elections

Hala Sami, from the al-Daher district of Cairo, displays her inked finger after voting in Egypt's first contested presidential election in history.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Monday February 19, 2007, Luxor, Egypt

Government demolishes villages built atop ancient tombs in Luxor

For decades, people have been living in mud-brick homes built around and atop the ancient burial tombs in the mountains of Luxor's west bank. In December 2006, the Egyptian government began relocating residents of the villages to new homes a few kilometers away and commenced with the demolition of houses that sit atop important antiquities monuments.

Samah Khattab stands in her father's home in Old Gourna which is still occupied after demolition teams began razing the village. A few of the residents are reluctant to leave the area as they rely on their close proximity to areas visited by tourists to earn money by selling small souvenirs or refreshments.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Saturday January 27, 2007, Deir Abu Hinnis, Egypt

Coptic Christianity in Egypt

Young girls toss flower petals greeting local bishops and government officials during a festival marking the Holy Family's flight into Egypt. The colorful celebration, a relatively new tradition for this Christian village in upper Egypt, is held each January to commemorate the slaying of the children of Bethlehem, and again in June to mark the actual entry of the Holy Family into Egypt.

Coptic Christian girls toss flower petals as a greeting during a religious festival.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Wednesday June 30, 2004, Baghdad, Iraq

Only female Iraqi athlete who will be compete in the Olympic Games

Alaa Hikmat, 19, trains at the Al-Keshafa Stadium in Adhimiyah. Hikmat is the only female Iraqi athlete who will be competing in the Olympic Games in Athens in August. "I'm looking forward to the Olympics," she says. "But I don't know if I'll do well or not. Look at the other countries. They have specialist trainers and all the best facilities. I don't even have proper running shoes."

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Monday September 12, 2005, Rafah, Egypt

Hundreds cross between Egypt and Gaza after Israeli withdrawal

Hundreds of Palestinians and Egyptians crossed the border in the divided city of Rafah, reuniting with family and friends they had not seen in years, shopping, or just having a look around. Egypt has committed 750 border guards to secure the Gaza-Egypt border, but they are not yet fully deployed and were caught off-guard by the high volume of traffic at the border.

A young boy gazes into Egypt while standing on the border wall in the no-man's land between Egypt and Gaza on the day that Israeli troops completed their withdrawal from the occupied Gaza strip.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Monday June 19, 2006, Cairo, Egypt

Film released based on Egyptian writer Alaa Al-Aswany's "The Yacobian Building"

The Yacobian building has been immortalized in Alaa al-Aswany's novel of the same name, and the film version-- featuring an all-star Egyptian cast-- was recently released after receiving critical acclaim at several international film festivals. The controversial novel, first published in 2002, chronicles the lives of residents of one downtown Cairo building, and highlights many of the social and political problems facing Egypt today. Several of the residents of the building, including Adel Malek Khela, have filed suit against al-Aswany for libel claiming that the author used real names of individuals in the fictional account of the residents of the building. Al-Aswany, a dentist by trade, once had his clinic in the building near the shirtmaker's shop.

Workers are busy in the tiny shop of shirtmaker Adel Malek Khela, located in the Yacobian Building in downtown Cairo.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Thursday April 6, 2006, Cairo, Egypt

Hundreds of couples celebrate wedding at Cairo Stadium

Five hundred couples celebrated their marriage at the Cairo Stadium with music and dancing at a mass wedding party. The celebration was sponsored by the Ministry of Social Affairs for couples who could not afford an elaborate wedding celebration. Friends and families shared in the celebration from the stadium bleachers.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Sunday August 31, 2003, Baghdad, Iraq

Funeral procession for slain Shiite cleric Mohamed Bakr al-Hakim

Bystanders are pressed against the wall during the funeral procession for Ayatollah Muhamid Bakr al-Hakim in Baghdad. Around 300,000 people joined the procession from Kadhimiya Mosque. The ceremonial coffin will travel from Baghdad to Najaf during the three day processional. The revered Shiite cleric was assasinated on August 29, 2003 during a car bomb attack outside Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Thursday July 8, 2004, Baghdad, Iraq

Major Crimes Unit fighting terror in Iraq

A Major Crimes Unit officer guides a suspect into a vehicle. The MCU seized the suspect, who lives in the Hai al Amal district, on information that he was a Saudi national funding a nearby camp of gypsies to wage attacks on coalition forces passing on the road near their camp. The MCU is a plain-clothes force that deals with terrorism, fraud and kidnapping.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Thursday December 1, 2005, Zagazig, Egypt

Egyptians vote in third round of parliamentary elections

Egyptian voters are casting their ballots in the third round of voting in the nation's parliamentary elections. Muslim Brotherhood poll monitors noted that eight polling stations were blocked in the Sharkeya governorate to prevent citizens from voting for non-ruling party candidates.

An Egyptian woman waits to cross a police line blocking a polling station in Zagazig.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Sunday June 25, 2006, Cairo, Egypt

Coptic Christianity in Egypt

A faith healer at an evangelical orthodox Christian church in Cairo removes evil spirits from a woman. Hundreds of people of all faiths, Muslim and Christian, crowd this church after regular services in order to seek spiritual healing.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Wednesday April 27, 2005, Cairo, Egypt

Pro democracy demonstration in Cairo

A few hundred activists were blocked in by thousands of Egyptian riot police and special security forces to prevent others from joining the protest. Pro-democracy activists called for rallies throughout Egypt on Wednesday.

Egyptians from the Kefaya (Enough) movement demonstrate for political reform in Cairo.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Friday April 21, 2006, Cairo, Egypt

Coptic Christianity in Egypt

Coptic Orthodox Christians gathered at Mar Morqos church in Giza during the Holy Week leading up to Easter. Deacons feet were washed during the "Liturgy of Water", a special ceremony during Holy Week symbolizing when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, showing humility.

Members of the congregation reach to touch icons carried by the priests and deacons during a Good Friday mass at Mar Morqos Church in Giza.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Wednesday April 21, 2004, Baghdad, Iraq

Baghdad South Power Plant

Ali Nasser (left), 32 assists Russian contractor Voloda Kavridin, 33, from Krasnoya in fixing boiler number 1 at the Baghdad South Power Plant. The equipment dates from 1982 and is in a state of disrepair. Currently, only one of the turbines and boilers is in operation. The Russian contractor, IES, has been working since February 2004 on repairs to the power plant. As the scorching Iraqi summer approaches, renovations to the vital electrical power plant is behind schedule due to delays in receiving imported spare parts like boiler tubes and condenser tubes. The recent upsurge of violence in Iraq has slowed many reconstruction projects as contractors are scaling back or pulling out of the country.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Wednesday March 3, 2004, Karbala, Iraq

Iraqis react to the bombing on Ashura, the holiest day of the Shiite calendar

Crowds of mourners march in a funeral procession through the streets of Karbala the day after a wave of bomb attacks killed scores of people during Ashura commemorations, the holiest day in the Shiite calendar. The mourners chanted slogans praising Allah and Hussein, the martyred Imam, and blaming the Americans for the deaths of the martyrs of Ashura.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Tuesday March 2, 2004, Karbala, Iraq

Shiite Muslims celebrate Ashura in Karbala

Shi'a pilgrims, bloody after cutting themselves with knives during the Ashura observances in Karbala, grieve outside the Shrine of Imam Hussein. The rituals involving self-inflicted pain are a prominent feature of Ashura as pilgrims wish to emulate the pain felt by the martyred Imam Hussein, who was killed in battle in Karbala in 680AD. Ashura is the holiest day on the Shi'ite calendar and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from Iraq, Iran and other countries gathered in Karbala to participate in the Ashura rituals this year, which were banned under the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Sunday June 1, 2003, Baghdad, Iraq

Sobba religion wedding in Baghdad

A Sabian religious leader baptises a member of a wedding ceremony at the sect's worship center in Baghdad. The Sobba religion is thought to be one of the oldest monotheistic faith's in the world.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Monday September 1, 2003, Karbala, Iraq

Iraq Hakim Funeral

Iraqi women grieve waiting for the coffin of Ayatollah Mohamed Bakr al-Hakim outside the Abbas Shrine in Karbala. Thousands of mourners joined the second day of the funeral procession of the slain Shiite cleric from Karbala, Iraq's second holiest city, to Najaf. Al-Hakim was assasinated last Friday in Najaf in a car bomb attack on the Imam Ali Mosque after noon prayers.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Thursday August 25, 2005, Minya, Egypt

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak campaigns in Minya

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak attended a campaign rally in Minya, addressing supporters and meeting with a retired government worker. Mubarak is campaigning for his fifth term as Egypt's leader in the country's first-ever contested election.

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak (C) greets supporters after a campaign rally in Minya.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Thursday October 13, 2005, Cairo, Egypt

Sudanese refugees stage peaceful sit-in in Cairo

Sarah, a Sudanese refugee from Darfur who has been in Cairo since June 2004, comforts her six-month old son Akram at a park near the UNHCR offices in Cairo. Hundreds of refugees from all parts of Sudan have been staging a sit-in near the offices of the UNHCR in Cairo since 29 September 2005. They have presented a list of demands to the UN refugee agency, including reopening closed files of Sudanese refugees and continuing resettling in third countries rather than compulsory voluntary repatriation. Organizers vow to continue the strike until their demands are met.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Friday January 6, 2006, Cairo, Egypt

Coptic Christianity in Egypt

Coptic Orthodox Christians gathered at Mar Morqos church in Giza during the Holy Week leading up to Easter. Deacons feet were washed during the "Liturgy of Water", a special ceremony during Holy Week symbolizing when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, showing humility.

Father Beniameen Morgan baptizes Diana Boeke at Mar Morqos Church in Giza. Boeke, an American living in Cairo, converted to Egypt's Orthodox Christian faith after months of study and consultation with Morgan.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Thursday August 28, 2003, Kirkuk, Iraq

Kurdish refugees in Iraq

Perwin Ali Khader, 20, and her daughter Sarah, 1, live in a make-shift home in a football stadium in Kirkuk that was taken over by Kurdish IDPs returning from the north after the war. Her extended family was originally from Kirkuk but were transfered to Tuz Khurmatu and then Ramadi. They returned after the war and are hoping to find proper housing in their native city.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Wednesday February 14, 2007, Cairo, Egypt

Egypt antiquities and tourism

Men pray inside the 14th century madrassa and khanqah of Sultan Barquq.

Men pray inside the 14th century madrassa and khanqah of Sultan Barquq.

Credit: Dana Smillie / Polaris

Dana Smillie

Dana Smillie is a still photographer and videographer who has been based in Cairo, Egypt for over a decade. She photographs assignments throughout the region for numerous international editorial and corporate clients, and her work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, Stern, Forbes, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times. As a videographer, she produces video packages and multimedia projects for television, internet and corporate distribution. She has filmed and edited projects for CNN, YLE (Finland), UNHCR, National Geographic and Discovery Channel.