Wool dyeing in the Souks of Marrakech

It was tough. Making photographs in Morocco wasn't easy. The more I go through the films from Morocco, It is all coming back to me. Here's a shot from the Souks of Marrakech. These guys are dying wool that is used to make a lot of the Moroccan textiles. I remember walking past them and thinking how great it would be to get a candid shot of them doing their work.

I could see two possibilities. One was that they would agree, but the image would lose any spontaneity that I found attractive in the first place. The second option was that I would get my candid shot. I had no idea until this evening if I'd got something, and as usual, it isn't what I expected, but in many ways, it's much better than I'd hoped for.

What I like about this shot is that the main guy on the left has a very serious natural look on his face while in the immediate background his work mate is unaware of the camera. Notice the steam coming off the dyed wool. Compositionally, both subjects balance each other out and give the image symetry.

On a technical note, this was shot using the 50mm Mamiya 7 lens - that's roughly equivalent to a 24mm in 35mm land. So it's a wide angle. I normally shoot people shots with the 80 and it's a real pain to have to anticipate which lens to have on the camera body most of the time. I don't fancy the idea of having two Mamiya 7 bodies, because I'm really going to stand out. Which isn't the point of street photography.

First Moroccan Film Scan

Today I received my Morocco films back from the lab. They're Kodak Portra shots, C41 Processing, which means they are negatives. No contact sheets, so I'm just going through each roll, blind. This is the very first image I've just scanned tonight, and it's apparent to me that I will be shooting film for portraits from now on.

I was shooting all my material on film until about a year ago. It's been a trial to move to digital because it simply doesn't respond the same way or look similar. Digital's biggest drawback is in the realm of portraiture. I'm sure I'll be rubbing a lot of people up the wrong way, but I know because I've tried both. Rather than browse the internet for opinions, look at the images for proof, or better still, try it out for yourself.

Digital just doesn't have this look to it. The skin tones are hard to reproduce in digital, and well, there's something organic about film to my eye.

This was shot in Marrakech, near the main square. He's quite hip isn't he? I like his gelled hair, and he was very approachable. He is a modern Moroccan whereas many of the others I photographed seemed to come from a much older time.

I found a lot of the locals in Marrakech were very warm and friendly to each other, but not to the tourists.

It was a hard place to photograph as the camera is treated as a serious intrusion to their lives and religion. But now and then I'd meet someone who was a willing participant. I'll post more in the coming days as I work through the films.

Chewing the Fat

I guess even Gauchos gossip. These guys certainly seemed to be dishing the dirt about somebody somewhere, or perhaps they were discussing the current political climate?

As part of the workshop, we were 'scheduled' to take photos of the Gauchos at an estancia at laguna Verde, but it turned out they weren't there. So it was with surprise that on the very last day we found them at Las Torres.

Below is a portrait of the Gaucho who you can see above on the right. Normally, I'd use an 85 or 100 mm lens for a shot like this, but I really do rate the Canon 70-200 lenses. I've owned the f2.8 (personally, too big and too heavy) and I now have the tiny f4 (Ideal for travel). They are both optically identical but the weight of the litte f4 brother is just right for lugging around when I'm off on my travels.

Anyway, the Gaucho is quite flamboyant. I mean, does he dress like that just for work, or is he looking for some attention?

I'm off to Argentina tomorrow to the northern edge of Los Glaciares. It will take me three days to get there due to the condition of the unsealed roads down here. When I get there, I'm intending on camping and trekking around the base of Cerro Torre and Fitzroy mountains. Last time I was here, I came home pretty much empty handed, so wish me luck.

Dancing in the streets

This is a street scene from Havana, Cuba. I shot this on a little Voightlander Bessa R3a rangefinder camera on Kodak Portra film (my favourite film for people shots). There's something very nice about film that seems really 'organic' to my eye. But it was really the chance encounter with these children that makes the image for me.

Cuba is a country full of music. You hear it everywhere - morning, noon and night, in peoples homes, in passing cars and out on the street too.

These kids were really getting into the swing of things as I came around the corner, and I just couldn't resist taking this shot.