Escape
16 years ago I travelled around Morocco, from Fez to Casablanca, Marrakesh to the Atlas mountains and even out into the Sahara desert, it was an amazing experience which I will never forget, but it was a time before my discovery of photography, so the prospect of coming back again, this time with my camera in hand was mouth watering to say the least. I decided to base myself in Marrakech this time around to have ample opportunities to photograph the people and the places that originally blew my mind all those years ago.
A lot has changed in that time mind you, gone are the emaciated donkeys pulling carts, replaced by mopeds and scooters churning out their noisy petrol fumes. The souks felt different to me than my previous visit, they felt cleaner, nicer to walk around, with fewer aggressive men trying to take you through the souks and demand payment for the privilege. This however did not detract from the people that inhabit this crazy and enigmatic corner of Africa that I remember so fondly from 16 years ago.
Starting off with the Souks themselves, a place that needs to be seen to be believed. They could (and did) turn you around in seconds, leaving you bewildered as where to go next. A total lack of landmarks within them start to mess with your sense of direction as the labyrinth of stalls seem to just go on forever. From textiles to spices and back again the souks are a maze selling a seemingly endless amount of wares for sale. The relief when you did manage to find your way back to the entrances at the Jemaa el-Fnaa could be seen on many a tourists face (including mine) as they made for one of the roof top restaurants on the main square for some respite, hot, sweaty and exhausted.
As well as the souks, I also had a chance to get some photos of Bahia Palace, one of the many palaces dotted throughout the city. The main draw of this particular one is the intricate tiles that adorn the walls and floors throughout its grounds. This all sounded lovely, however the reality was that I was one of seemingly thousands who knew about this place. In 32 degree heat every man, woman and child visiting Marrakech seemed to know about this place and had come to take selfies of themselves against the famous tiles. This meant getting an sort of shot without wandering tourists was almost impossible. The few I did take will always make me chuckle as It does not show the reality of what the Palace was really like to be in.
After the craziness of the Bahia Palace and the souks, I spent some time exploring the Agafay desert outside of Marrakesh which is harder than I thought to photograph due to to its lack of landmarks. Typically I would have used something in the foreground for landscape stuff, or wait for something to come into the shot to get an appealing and more interesting image.
It was however a great spot to watch the sun go down which changed the whole dynamics of individual photographs from one minute to the next .
So that is it for my Moroccan adventure 2023. I was lucky enough to capture some interesting images of this frenzied and exciting place while I was there, with more than one stand out highlights along the way. One of the main factors I feel contributed to this success was my camera. Being able to use the Fujifilm X100V here was game changing for me as I am not someone who likes to be noticed when I am taking photos so this camera is the perfect Foil for me. Its silent leaf shutter lens, small compact body and Fujifilm colour film simulations just make it perfect for this sort of photography. Sometimes I have to remind myself of when I did try street photography while in India, the difficulties I experienced there with my big Canon 7D DSLR attracting the wrong kind of attention. At one point even getting into a fight with a local who was demanding money while trying to hit my camera out of my hand at the burning Ghats in Varanasi. It was a horrible experience with the upshot being I just didn’t take my DSLR camera out with me as much. It put me off street photography for a long time, but as I have waxed lyrical about before, the X100V lets me go pretty much unnoticed as I snap away making all the photos on this post possible.
Finally I leave this post with my favorite image of the whole trip, an image that I knew instantly when I took it that I had hit the jackpot.
Deep inside the souks, walking through one of the many food quarters, one side stalls selling food the path, the other side I spotted a man leaning against a wall. I composed as I walked towards him, checking the camera screen as I went. I recomposed quickly to portrait, so I could get a close up as I went by. I quickly turned the camera as he turned towards me, the sun breaking through the dark passageway onto his face and I took one shot which captured what I had been looking for… Mission Accomplished!
FIN
