Welcome to Unpacked, Five Questions, a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of one great travel story. In this episode, executive editor Katherine LaGrave sits down with documentary photographer Nathalie Mohadjer, whose images of the desert oasis of Siwa appear in Afar's winter 2026 issue.

For four weeks in Siwa, an ancient town some 450 miles from Cairo, Nathalie traded the typical three-day shoot for a slower kind of immersion — sharing breakfasts in the old town, spending afternoons with a local woman named Fatima, and bathing in a hidden cold spring with her family's kids.

She talks with Katherine about photographing a community where Siwan women are rarely seen by outsiders, why patience and respect matter more than the camera itself, and how losing your sense of time in the desert can change the way you see a place. She also shares advice for travelers heading to Siwa — and the one moment she chose not to capture.

Meet this week's guest

Nathalie Mohadjer is a German-Iranian documentary photographer based in Paris whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Monocle, and Le Monde.

Episode highlights

How a stranger waving from a window in Siwa's ruins led to weeks of access to a local family's home, kitchen, and hidden swimming spots
Why Nathalie spent nearly four weeks in Siwa — and what that kind of time reveals about a place that most visitors see in three or four days
The ethics and art of photographing people in other cultures: when to put the camera away, and how to earn the moment rather than take it
What makes Siwa's community so distinct from the rest of Egypt — and the Berber and Tuareg roots that shape its culture
Nathalie's practical advice for travelers heading to Siwa: slow down, talk to strangers, and don't be afraid to follow an unexpected invitation

Links & resources

Follow Nathalie Mohadjer on Instagram
Explore her visual story about Siwa, Egypt on Afar
Explore her photographs of Oman in her first Afar feature

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction

00:03:00 Arriving in Siwa

00:09:00 Meeting Fatima

00:17:00 Photographing with Patience

00:24:00 Timelessness and Culture

00:30:00 Advice for Travelers

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Unpacked, Five Questions: Why This Photographer Spent Four Weeks in the Egyptian Desert