"I'm here... Hear me?"... A phrase repeated by the people who are taken by the blind Egyptian photographer, Esraa Ismail Youssef, in order to hear her and locate them so that she can take distinctive photographs of them with the camera in the city of Alexandria.
Esraa, a 22-year-old with a passion for photography, uses the Sea Corniche in Egypt's second largest city, Alexandria, to take pictures of passersby, loved ones and business owners to teach herself to master the art of photography.
Esraa Ismail relies on hearing and touch in photography in Alexandria (Reuters)
Israa, who was born blind, approaches the subjects of her photos using her hands to determine the dimensions and location of the characters before asking them to speak to her, and she goes back to prepare to take pictures for them.
Concerning her love for what she does, Esraa told Reuters TV, "I chose her, because I would very much like to enter the media field, and I was striving in every way to enter the department. But I knew that for that, I had to find a way to pass the task of photography."
And she adds, "I decided to look for courses to learn photography and to develop myself more, until I found the (May the Challenge) initiative founded by Professor (Khaled Farid). I spoke to him and he started teaching me. At first I imagined that he would teach me mobile photography, I was surprised when I found him telling me that he would teach me Camera photography.
Esra shows her photos after they were taken (Reuters)
Esraa, a graduate of the Department of Arabic Language and Literature, hopes that her tour around Alexandria will give her enough experience to enter the field of media and work in journalism.
And she admits, "It is really difficult, but I liked to go through the experience and deal with people, to know more, to gain relationships, and to feel that I did something useful that I love."
And about her, Rahma Abdel Rahman, a woman who took pictures of Israa on the Corniche, told Reuters, "Her level is very sweet, she depends on touching hands to know where we are and depends on our voice, may God help her."