J. Pascal Sébah founded a large photographic studio at 439 Grande Rue de Pera in the center of Constantinople in 1857. The establishment came to be called El Chark, or "The Orient." He extensively photographed Egypt, including views of many of the temples as well as rare portraits of tribespeople in the Nubian desert. He also staged genre scenes, and his photographs were frequently used as illustrations in scientific Orientalist publications. Sebah won a silver medal for his Egyptian photographs at the 1878 Exposition Universelle.