Morocco trip pictures

[Tanzy]

Morocco photos

I drove around part of Morocco in summer earlier this year and I've scanned some of the colour slides I took on the trip.

I've picked out a few to upload out of the 11 rolls I shot.

Please feel free to post your critique or any questions you may have here.

Hope you enjoy them!

[B|uEc@rpEt]

Interesting pics u've got there....kinda like some pics that u took...quite artistic....

Ps* Tanzy...juz out of curiousity...how old r u? (If its not too personal of a question)

[Tanzy]

I'm 23.

I feel that I'm not very much of an artist. I just like to play with light.

[B|uEc@rpEt]

Tks Tanzy

Yup...saw quite a few of ya tank pics...captured under various lighting

From ya post...I tot u were in ya mid-30s...dun koe y also.

[Tanzy]

Premature ageing?

[B|uEc@rpEt]

P-ageing?

Nope...of cos not.

I figured its cos... u sound real wise for 23.

Prob ya marine knowledge...and of cos who can forget socrates?

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Saw some of your pics of Morocco and must say their quite interesting. Especially liked those birds eye view landscapes. Too bad its quite hazy. Would have been better if it was a clear day. The land is expansive indeed and the whole place seems to look very...well...sandy.

Most waterfalls can be found amidst lush greenery but the one you took was like sitting in the middle of a desert with sand and clay. Quite a unique change of perspective. Looks like an oasis to me. I wonder what would have happened if you had reduced the aperture to the smallest and compensate for the reduction in exposure by slowing the shutter as slow as you can possibly go without over exposing. You might just get a cotton wool effect of the cascading water. In fact, you almost had it in Cascades D'Ouzoud but the effect could have been exaggerated even more. It could have looked naturally unnatural...cool, I think. Also like that silhoutte shot of Rampart tower. Tricky one.

11 rolls? What film camera were you using for those shots? SLR or compact? Yeah, I love taking slides too. The noise level is very low and the colours are amazingly rich esp. the ISO 50s slide film but need to shoot in bright lighting conditions for best results and can be quite restrictive on your shutter speed the moment the weather starts getting cloudy. I was caught a few times in this situation and instead of wasting the precious slide film on dull overcast scenes, I have another standby cam loaded with normal film or higher speed slides for muti purpose shots. From the looks of your pic, it seems like you are using Fuji slide films. The blues are very pronounced in most of your pics.

BTW, any reasons why did you pick Morocco of all destinations?

[Tanzy]

bluecarpet,

Anyone can quote Socrates. Just look up some book of quotes and away you go!

S.hispidus,

Most of the time in Morocco the air will be very hazy due to desert dust. Which isn't a bad thing because it is the dust that give the magnificent sunset colours. If you are there in person, you can see the rocks and sand change colour as the sun moves.

Didn't think of that for the waterfall, besides, I didn't have a tripod for low shutter speed then.

I use a Nikon but I don't know what model it is because its older than me! Older than FM2. My dad gave me this condemned camera for the trip because my uncle busted his EOS1 and lens in the Gobi desert. The desert sand is as fine as powder and it will get everywhere no matter how well you try to keep it out. Anyway, the camera did give up after a while and the Olympus Mju I used for prints was totally trashed after the trip. Both cameras are landfill material now.

I used Velvia for the Erfoud shots only. The rest was made with Provia except Cascades, Marrakesh and Essaouira which was taken with Kodak Elitechrome Extra Colour. I believe that the heat of the car in the sun may have degraded some of the film and if you were to look at the slides, you will see a lot of scratches due to sand. The films were choosen because the desert is very bland and subdued in colour, colour rich film is prefered, especially the Elitechrome EC. I should have used a red filter, but maybe next time.

You must be an expert to be able to pick out the brand of film used!

Why Morocco? Because I wanted to see the desert and do some 4WD driving! The desert is surreal! It is so silent when there is no one else around and the air is still. I've never experience no sound before. Just plain silence. It is as though you have gone deaf. Kind of freaky. Go see Morocco! I'll definetly go again and the next time I hope to do an all piste desert to sea drive.

[Stenopus Hispidus]

How long did you toured Morocco? Boy, the harsh desert conditions are not cam safe eh? Can't imagine if you had brought both your d.cams there...you'll be squirming in tears now.

You mean I have to like bring a sacrificial cam for every desert visit. Kinda expensive, don't ya think so. But your Nikon (although an antique) did churn out some great pics. Its a pity to junk it. Why don't you have it serviced instead for your next trip to Morocco...and perhaps spare your d.cams the agony? On the the other hand, I think its gonna be costly if you have to replace your scratched lens though and being an antique, they may not have the parts avail. by now. Oh well...

4WD in the desert must be some experience but sure does sound lonely and eerie. I bet when you returned that truck of a car, the air filter must be choked full of sand and dust! The air/fuel combustion ratio must be way off tune. And was the aircon blowing fresh cool sand into the car for your breathing pleasure?

[Tanzy]

I was in Morocco for a little less than 2 weeks. Desert sand kills cameras and any mechanical equipment. I intended to bring a digi with my laptop but thankfully I did not.

I read before somewhere that National Geographic dump their cameras after they have been used in the desert too. My uncles's EOS1 and lens needed to be sent to US for servicing because local agents didn't have a clue how to do it. Not only is the dust bad, the piste and potholed roads are so bumpy that it will surely damage any camera. Some of the tar roads are so bad that I must slow down the Landcruiser to go over them even though that car had massive tyres. My camera's shutter mechanism was jammed after so much bouncing and dust. I had to slam the camera again to release it.

My dad likes Provia, I like Velvia and Kodak Elitechrome EC, but Velvia is a bit slow. The Landcruiser is tough stuff! Official vehicle for NGS and UN. Set the aircon to recirc.