Most people I spoke to stressed the importance of being respectful to a country’s customs and dress codes. For the most part, that means not showing too much skin. Keep your shoulders, anything above the knee, and your cleavage covered up. Tops with spaghetti straps should also be avoided. Most countries, barring the likes of Saudi Arabia, Iran and the southern parts of Iraq, don’t actually legally enforce dress codes or force women to wear veils, but it’d be a bit like if you were to walk down a busy NYC street wearing just a bikini — you have the right to do it, but you’re going to feel like the odd woman out, which could be uncomfortable; people will definitely stare and probably make pretty nasty, sexual remarks and even feel like they have the right to come grope you.Al-Shabrawy explained: “If my subject is a female wearing anything revealing, she will have to keep herself covered until we get the shot ready. Once she's in a revealing outfit we have to be as fast as possible before people gather. This is for her protection, especially knowing the amount of harassment on Cairo streets.”Indeed, the easiest solution (though, it’s also the least empowering), is to have a man with you. Even though having a man around obviously doesn’t actually make a situation safer, in countries where men are seen as strong and as an authority, it does appear to deter or at least cause other men to think twice before approaching. As Al-Shabrawy explains: “[Having a man around] makes us less approachable and more protected.”Regardless of what you are wearing, people are probably going to be staring. Dana Al Khalifa of The Overdressed , a Bahrain-based blog, told Refinery29, “I shot a Burberry campaign in the [market] one time, and everyone was staring. There was a circle of expat labor workers surrounding us; [I’ve found that] they’re mostly the people who stare as they often come from largely populated, under-developed countries so they’re not used to seeing people dress in metallic pink-lamé coats in the middle of summer.” Indeed, staring is very much a common thing in the Middle East and not considered particularly rude or ominous.The concept of family honor is an important idea in the Middle East and, whether or not you agree with it, honor is often dependent on the behavior of the women in the family. This often manifests itself as men feeling like they need to chaperone and protect their female family members. Many therefore stressed the importance of asking permission before taking a photograph of someone, or, if you’re posing for the picture yourself, making sure no one else is captured in the frame without their knowledge.Indeed, while in other parts of the world, especially at Fashion Week, people dress up especially to be captured on camera by the multitude of street style photographers, in much of the region, it’s not okay to take a photo of someone without asking for their permission first. Moez Achour , a street style photographer based in Dubai explained how it works: “We make sure not to include random people in photos, we never shoot when there is a lot of people out in public, and we always avoid areas that are restricted or residential with a lot of locals… Be careful not to include women or children, too; that is a big no-no out there.”But it’s not only women who may not want to make up any part of a photo. Indeed, while shooting at a famous café in Cairo, we ran into some trouble when the owner became concerned that we were capturing some of his clientele in the background. We had to show him the pictures, delete the ones he didn’t approve of, and eventually had to retire to the most hidden spot in the café where no one else was in view. Even then we had to be super quick and as inconspicuous as we could.