Category Archives: Morocco Travel Blog

Into the a Sahara – Sort Of…

Monochrome in Gold. (Unmodified in-camera JPEG)
Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Lens: EF-S15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM | Date: 18-11-2013 16:19 | Resolution: 3456 x 2304 | ISO: 200 | Exp. bias: 0 EV | Exp. Time: 1/100s | Aperture: 11.0 | Focal Length: 85.0mm (~137.7mm) | Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM

The “entertainment” last night is best glossed over – lots of drumming but no real way to distinguish any part from any other – a 10s repeating loop would be much the same.

We woke up to quite a strong wind, kicking up a dust off the dunes. Only limited photo opportunities, and some concern for the trek later in the day. We went up to the local village and wandered around for a while, then had both excellent photography and a very nice lunch (a “berber pizza”) at the Nomad Depot, essentially the local carpet emporium. Dick succumbed to the sales speil, and will be going back to Norway two rugs heavier.

After lunch we chucked the kit and ourselves onto 8 camels and set off into the Erg Chebbi, a small “sand sea”. Sods Law – after 7 days of cloudless skies we had substantial cloud cover, so battling the light for photography, but at least the wind had dropped. Fate smiled on us with a couple of breaks in the cloud to provide a few decent shots, but no star trails for us tonight!

At the end of the trek, we reached the Berber encampment. Just in case the enormity of this achievement is not appreciated, I should disclose that one of the camel handlers then walked home for the night!

I’m now sitting by a camp fire, with a beer, waiting for dinner, so all’s right with the world.

Update, Morning.

Sleep was better than feared, worse than hoped for. During the night the clouds cleared and at one awakening I set the camera up for a star trail set. However as it was a full moon I’m not expecting the best results. We’ll see.

View featured image in Album
Posted in Morocco Travel Blog, Travel | Leave a comment

Getting Covered

We had a dawn start to photograph the town of Tineghir from a panoramic overlook. It’s suddenly very cold – not much above freezing first thing. The angle of the light was again a challenge, but I got some good Continue reading

Saturday, November 16, 2013 in Morocco Travel Blog, Travel

Kicking Up Some Dust

Still in Ait Ben Haddou, after a quick trip to the top of the hill and back we found ourselves back in the kasbah museum. Someone had the idea of kicking up some dust to illuminate the strong shaft of Continue reading

Friday, November 15, 2013 in Morocco Travel Blog, Travel

Exploring Ait Ben Haddou

Dawn start to photograph Ait Ben Haddou lit from the East by the rising sun. This is a very familiar view to viewers of a certain class of film. We spent the morning mainly exploring the interiors of a couple Continue reading

Over the Mountains

On Wednesday we moved off from Marrakech, up over the Atlas mountains. Quite a long drive, made even longer by a couple of factors. Firstly a bus full of photographers will stop repeatedly to shoot every pretty hillside village. Second Continue reading

The Water Seller

The friendly water seller. Continue reading

Thursday, November 14, 2013 in Morocco Travel Blog, Travel

Day Three – Gardens, Snakes and Haggling

I’m falling behind a bit with my blog, not for any technical reason, but simply because the days of this trip are so packed they leave little time for anything except sleep. Day three was also spent in Marrakech. We Continue reading

A Career in Modelling?

Well not me, obviously! 🙂 Mind you, our guide for our second day in Marrakech, Mohammed, was even more generously padded than yours truly, so maybe it’s not the barrier you might think. Within half an hour we had him Continue reading

Exploring the Souks

A gentle first morning, waiting for the others to arrive, but by lunchtime we were assembled. It definitely works well for me arriving slightly early and having time to sort myself out. After introductions and a leisurely lunch, we got Continue reading

Tuesday, November 12, 2013 in Micro Four Thirds, Morocco Travel Blog, Photography, Travel

Off to Morocco

Well the Morocco trip is finally here. In the words of Magna Carta (the band, not the power sharing document) “I’m sitting in an airport lounge, waiting for a plane.” The weather at Gatwick is completely grey and depressing, but Continue reading

Sunday, November 10, 2013 in Morocco Travel Blog, Travel