B&W Marrakech Street Portraits

Matt a very good set & they do look way better when viewed on the Flickr site (y)
 
Those are great, Matt... quite partial to the first; I love the detail in his face, great conversion...and the last; the blur on the hammer really helps to tell the story of the image and what's going on... it's very good! :)
 
You were lucky to get these shots. We were in Marrakech a few years ago and every time I lifted my camera up there was someone with his or her hand out wanting to be paid. Leaving the souk we were in the square and saw something going off, so we wandered over and some tumblers were just finishing their act so we started to walk away. The next minuet there was a young man at the side of us wanting to be paid four watching the act even though we did not see anything. I told him in no uncertain terms were to go. Things started to get nasty until the local plod seemed to be heading towards us and the young man then departed. This is a place I will never ever go to again.
 
DayDreamer said:
Matt a very good set & they do look way better when viewed on the Flickr site (y)
Click to expand...
sunnyside_up said:
Those are great, Matt... quite partial to the first; I love the detail in his face, great conversion...and the last; the blur on the hammer really helps to tell the story of the image and what's going on... it's very good! :)
Click to expand...
Thanks very much :)

swiftflo said:
You were lucky to get these shots. We were in Marrakech a few years ago and every time I lifted my camera up there was someone with his or her hand out wanting to be paid. Leaving the souk we were in the square and saw something going off, so we wandered over and some tumblers were just finishing their act so we started to walk away. The next minuet there was a young man at the side of us wanting to be paid four watching the act even though we did not see anything. I told him in no uncertain terms were to go. Things started to get nasty until the local plod seemed to be heading towards us and the young man then departed. This is a place I will never ever go to again.
Click to expand...

Thanks (y). Im sorry to hear of the bad experience you had in Marrakech. I must admit, my first outing into the town gave me a similar impression, and left me wondering how on earth I'll get some good pics without a long lens. However, it soon became clear that there are loads and loads of tourists who show no respect for the locals, and just shove a camera in their face/stall, then walk off to the next one (I'm not suggesting this is what you did by the way, just giving a reason why the locals are a bit anti photos).

Once I realised this, I took my time and tried to engage potential subjects in a bit of dialogue (using my very broken french!), and ask permission to take their picture. I'd say 50% would say sure and let me carry on, and 50% would say no, in which case I just said merci and walked away. People in the square (i.e. snake charmers, OJ sellers etc) all asked for payment for the pictures I took, whilst in the souks no one wanted paying.
 
You know of my and Yv's love for Marrakech and Moroccans from the other thread, which is the exact opposite of Peter's feelings!

They're good portraits, especially the first gate keeper, but it's such a colourful city and people that I'd probably prefer the original, unconverted versions.
 
Fantastic set mate! Love #1. Well done
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top