Photo and caption by Justin Bessant

Early in the morning I visited Shakhi-Zinda hoping to capture the early morning light on the ancient mausoleum complex. But lucky for me, the night guard insited that I follow him and took me to restricted areas including the tomb of Kusam ibn Abbas, the cousin of the profit Mohammad. While following him, I was able to capture this moment of a local man reading the Koran during early morning prayers.

Location: Samarkand, Uzbekistan