People in the streets of Essaouira/Mogador

ancient_mariner

ancient_mariner

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Who can follow Joanna's post in people and portraits?

So we had a whistle-stop tour of Morocco at the beginning of September, spending 1 or 2 days in each location, moving around the country from Casablanca via Rabat, Meknes, Fes, down through the mountains to Essaouira (previously called Mogador) on the coast, finishing at Marrakech. In most of the places we had little time for getting around on our own, and the people of Marrakech are not especially 'tourist-friendly' with some exceptions. However we did have a glorious 1 1/2 free days in Essaouira, and were able to explore the older parts of town that had not been turned into tourist hotels and restaurants, also passing by many of the locals going about their business.

These are my favourite photos from that time. I know they're not flawless: feel free to critique.

Day 1


Cycle into the sun 2 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr


Walking home - Mogador by Toni Ertl, on Flickr


Looking for work - Mogador by Toni Ertl, on Flickr


Lads waiting - old Mogador by Toni Ertl, on Flickr
 
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Really good Toni, shrouded figure stands out with the highlight in the window above the arch a good counterpoint to the figure.
 
Very nice! First is my fave. Essaouora is one of my fave places to photograph. I do love the pacific blues and crumbling whites of the place , do you have any in colour or did they all suit b&w? I know mine were a mix!
 
Really good set, some real crackers there. I love Essaouria - apparently a fave spot for Jimi Hendrix to hang out too in his day. I am very fond of Morocco generally, some cracking places and people.
 
These are just fab scenes, my fav fliks for ages.

Before dawn is truly epic, am only viewing on cellfone, so possibly mind blowing @ prefered size.

Fantastic.
 
Never mind following Joanna's images, these are great.
Loving the clarity, tones and pp here.
A lovely story set.
 
Thanks guys - it's quite an honour considering the work many of you post.

Brazo said:
I do love the pacific blues and crumbling whites of the place , do you have any in colour or did they all suit b&w?
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Most of them work well in colour, but I've used mono partly to simplify & make them stand out a bit more, partly also because I ended up processing a lot of colour images so that the others in the party could see them and I wanted these to be different for me. Colour versions will appear later.

I've found it really hard to take pictures since we've got back because everything looks so ordinary.
 
I've praised these photos elsewhere. I just wanted to say that the reason I like them isn't just the choice of subject and backdrop. It's more the way you've captured and brought out the light and the textures. You did an excellent job with all of this. Thanks for sharing them.
 
Excellent. when you say some areas aren't tourist friendly, did you experience any hostility to taking photos around the streets? I would love to go to Morocco looking at these superb captures.
 
jpgreenwood said:
Excellent. when you say some areas aren't tourist friendly, did you experience any hostility to taking photos around the streets? I would love to go to Morocco looking at these superb captures.
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Thanks Jason. I never had personal hostility in Essaouira, but I also never pointed the camera directly at anyone - some of these are cropped or shot from some distance away to avoid issues. In Marrakech and a couple of other places people did get agitated if they thought I might be taking a picture, in Marrakech because they wanted to be paid. There was one place where I took a shot of an empty shop in a town outside Fes, the group moved on and then we heard shouts behind that followed for a little way - I don't know if it was because of the photo, but wasn't prepared to turn around and find out. There was one image (not shown here) where I did ask permission because it did require pointing the camera directly at the person, and they were happy with that.

If we went again then I'd love to do it as a photo holiday, rather than on a tour with occasional photo opportunities. Essaouira would be at the top of the list to visit, but I would avoid Marrakech completely. There's nothing unique about the place other than the attitude that tourists are a crop to be harvested by any means available, and while some people were genuine and honourable, some were not and things did get a little ugly for a couple of people in our group there. We did see a protest through Essaouira that I *think* was against tourism, and the following day saw a fight between an English speaking couple with a local speaking man and a shop keeper and his friends - punches were thrown, hands went around throats and phones were taken. I don't know why, but possibly it was a misunderstanding where the shopkeeper thought he had made a sale and the tourists didn't think they'd bought anything. It felt like we had to be constantly on our guard because of cultural differences and expectations throughout the visit, but less there than some other cities.

My feeling is that Morocco is not an entirely 'happy' place, with considerable poverty, a powerful and extremely wealthy monarch whose picture is hung in most establishments, and a different perception of the rule of law (I read recently of journalists being imprisoned, for example). This is the third guided trip of this kind that I have done, and this particular guide was extremely careful - far more so than those in Thailand and India who were somewhat reticent - about what he said and how he interacted with us. In some ways this makes it more interesting, but one must remember it is not Europe with crumbly bits and a desert. For similar reasons I should love to visit Saudi Arabia as it is now being opened up, but do not think I could ever relax until I had safely returned home.
 
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I’ve been to Morocco 3 times and would agree with @ancient_mariner comments regarding Marrakech.

However it is a beautiful place with many a photo opportunity you do have to be careful though.

I think one should also put themselves in place of the locals. They are ‘at work’ in a lot of touristy places and if a stranger turned up at your workplace and started taking pics of you well you may not be over the moon either.....

just saying ;)
 
Brazo said:
I think one should also put themselves in place of the locals. They are ‘at work’ in a lot of touristy places and if a stranger turned up at your workplace and started taking pics of you well you may not be over the moon either.....
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Absolutely. The guy mending nets had previously had people standing over him, practically pushing lenses into the back of his head, yet was gracious enough not to flinch. I really would like to go back.

It worries me that so much of their industry is focussed on creating tourist stuff now, piles of souvenirs everywhere.
 
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It saddens me to hear all this, it has obviously changed a lot since I was last there in the late 90's, when I started in Marrakech, and hired a wreck of a car from allegedly Avis, to drive over the mountains and south to Ouarzazate then Zagora, back across to the coast and up via Agadir to Essaouria to Marrakech, staying in decent but local hotels (not tourist ones). On the way south I pulled over to help a local whose car had broken down in the middle of nowhere (I know, very risky in hindsight), with whom I was able to conduct a vague conversation in French and the odd word in Arabic, dropped him at his brother's house in Ouarzazate where we were invited in for tea and refreshments with much gratitude (Touareg hospitality, it turned out), and advice as to where to go for the best desert and cultural experiences and photos. I guess that was a unique, of its time, experience
 
Lindsay56 said:
It saddens me to hear all this, it has obviously changed a lot since I was last there in the late 90's, when I started in Marrakech, and hired a wreck of a car from allegedly Avis, to drive over the mountains and south to Ouarzazate then Zagora, back across to the coast and up via Agadir to Essaouria to Marrakech, staying in decent but local hotels (not tourist ones). On the way south I pulled over to help a local whose car had broken down in the middle of nowhere (I know, very risky in hindsight), with whom I was able to conduct a vague conversation in French and the odd word in Arabic, dropped him at his brother's house in Ouarzazate where we were invited in for tea and refreshments with much gratitude (Touareg hospitality, it turned out), and advice as to where to go for the best desert and cultural experiences and photos. I guess that was a unique, of its time, experience
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The world isn't what it was, even 20 years ago. I don't think Morocco is *bad* and away from the touristy bits the welcome is much warmer and less financially biased. But tourism is colossal for them now, and has re-shaped the social and physical landscape much more than one would like. We did an overnight stay in the desert (not by camel) with a 40min 4WD transfer, and every gap between the dunes had its own cluster of tents as far as the eye could see - they have had to legally restrict the campsites because they had spread so far and were causing damage. We had no idea, and when the option was offered it sounded like a good thing to do, rather than being ecologically damaging.
 
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