All images by Shady William. Images used with permission.

“I am usually attracted to subjects who have incredible stories but their voices are hard to hear,” says photographer Shady William, “a man travelling hundreds of miles just to touch a shrine for a quest precious to his heart, or a farmer who is also a great horse rider.” Inspired by people and different cultures, Shady William embarked on a cultural quest near Luxor, Egypt. His series, Horses & Knights, documents one of the world’s oldest fencing competitions between local tribes living there. At the same time, it documents an important cultural tradition. In Al-Marmah, locals ride for pride and the sake of tradition, demonstrating the incredible speed and power of their fantastic horses.

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The Phoblographer: Tell us how this project came to be, your connection to Egypt, and the sport?

Shady William: I have been working on [an ongoing] project for the past three years, and a part of it included covering religious festivals. I had known that Al-Marmah, which is the name of the sport (derived from the word meaning “running fast”) is held up in Upper Egypt at certain times of the year. I managed to plan a trip to Luxor… Due to Covid-19 I wasn’t sure [the contest] will happen until a friend who worked at one of the sites told me that it was held on a smaller scale, and I arrived at the end of two hours of it.

The Phoblographer: How did you get into photography? What subjects did you start out photographing?

Shady William: During [a] 2017 summer vacation, I took off abroad for a student exchange program. It was the first time I actually held a camera, and I enjoyed the ability to share my perspective of things with others. After returning to Cairo, I couldn’t help but holding the camera again and starting to capture every special corner for me in Egypt.

The Phoblographer: Your work feels incredibly special from a cultural standpoint. What subjects would you say interest you the most?

Shady William: I am usually attracted to subjects who have incredible stories, but their voices are hard to hear. A man traveling hundreds of miles just to touch a shrine for a quest precious to his heart, or a farmer who is also a great horse rider. People and cultures have compassionate and factual stories to tell, so I try to capture the cohesion of the subject’s emotions with as good compositions and framing as I can get.

The Phoblographer: What were some of the most exciting moments shooting the Horses & Knights series? This surely isn’t like any other sport out there!

Shady William: To tell you the truth, I didn’t know what to expect. I have photographed multiple festivals before but never one with such a sport. For me personally, the most exciting moment was this race and dance between two knights, and my guess they were famous, everyone was watching them.

The Phoblographer: What was your approach when it came to composition? The riders in the foreground look vivid and clear, but you’ve also managed to capture the crowds of spectators we can see through big clouds of dust.

Shady William: I didn’t have an exact strategy. I usually try as much as I can to convey the emotions emitted or surrounded by the subject. One of the very strong things you can feel in the place is the respect of the crowd and the prestige of a rider. I was lucky as well because the space was relativity small and… the dust coming from the horse’s movement gave an extra layer before the audience or whatever is in the back.

The Phoblographer: Can you tell us about what the crowd is like? This is a totally different spectator sport!

Shady William: The crowd in that celebration were merely the residents of the area, although very diverse in terms of age… Al-Marmah, revives the elders’ cultural heritage of upper Egypt. Training hard to compete in the ritual, the youth [show] their horseback riding skills, bonding over culture rituals...