Shooter Files by f.d. walker

Street Photography Tips, Interaction, Travel, Guides

7 First Impressions of Casablanca, Morocco
(From a Street Photography Perspective)

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While Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco, it doesn’t get much love. People might fly in and out of the city, but it’s hard to find anyone recommending staying here longer than that. I wanted to find out if there was a good reason for this so I made sure to spend a few days here before flying out at the end of my visit to Morocco. 

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The truth is, after exploring the city, I can understand why people don’t love it compared to Morocco’s other attractions, but for street photography, I found many reasons that made me happy I gave it a chance. 

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So here are my first impressions of Casablanca, from my personal Street Photographer perspective…

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33 Street Photography Photos From 3 Days in Fes, Morocco

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After Marrakech, I took a train over to Fes, Morocco.  Fes is one of the most preserved old cities in the Arab world with a medina that’s as elaborate as you’ll find anywhere. There’s also a very local feeling with all the people who live inside its walls. While it does attract tourism, it’s nothing compared to the chaos of Marrakech. 

Marrakech assaults all of your senses with so much to experience and capture, while Fes is a little more relaxing and gives you a different experience. So here’s 33 photos that I was able to capture during my time in Fes…

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Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Fes Sky”

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Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken by Bab Chorfa in Fes, Morocco. Bab Chorfa is one of the largest gates in Fes’ elaborate medina. It’s also right by Bab Boujlad, Fes’ most popular gate due to its busy location and beautiful blue color. This whole area was one of my favorite parts of Fes to spend time for street photography. There’s lots of open light, interesting backgrounds, nearby streets to explore, and plenty of activity everywhere. 

In front of Bab Chorfa is a large open space where a market sets up selling mostly clothing. With all the space, it doesn’t get as crowded as inside the medina so you can really move around and use all the sunlight.  I was returning to the medina, while walking just outside this open market, when I took the above photo.

The first thing I noticed was the man sitting down with his pointed berber hat mostly covering his face. Then when I looked at the background of the gate wall, I noticed the black birds and interesting white clouds in the sky. So I took the shot framing it all together, trying to leave a little mystery with the hooded man included in the scene below the black specks in the sky.

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/11
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 400

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7 First Impressions of Fes, Morocco
(From a Street Photography Perspective)

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When it comes to Moroccan cities, Fes gets compared a lot to Marrakech. Online, you’ll find endless articles and forum topics covering the Marrakech vs Fes debate for visitors. Overall, there seems to be more people who love Marrakech, but also more that leave never wanting to return, while Fes is a little less polarizing. For me, I definitely left Marrakech loving it, but I can see why it’s not for everybody. Fes is much more relaxed with less hassle, tourist traps and chaos. 

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I don’t feel Fes provides the variety of life, colors, and scenery for Street Photography that Marrakech does, but that’s mostly because Marrakech is one of the best cities I’ve been to yet for that. Saying this, Fes is still a very unique city with the oldest, most elaborate and local medina you’ll visit anywhere. For many, this, plus the more relaxing vibe, will appeal more. Just like cities are different, so are photographers, so here are my first impressions of Fes, from my personal Street Photographer perspective…

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Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Working Blues”

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Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken by the Bahia Palace in Marrakech, Morocco. While not all of the elaborate palace is open to the public, it’s still one of the biggest draws for visitors to Marrakech. The Bahia Palace is on the edge of the Mellah district too so there’s always plenty going on in the area.

Along one of the main roads to the palace, there was a long wall of aluminum siding due to construction (which I believe is for part of the largest photography museum in the world opening this year in Marrakech). The aluminum wall provided an interesting reflection while also narrowing the road for the all the motorbikes and foot traffic going by. 

I was out here trying to capture the unique mixture of local traffic with the interesting reflection from the aluminum wall when I saw these two men pulling towards each other. I liked how the color blue stood out among the monotone scene and how they were pulling their different work wheels, so I decided to captured them just before they passed each other. While the rest of my shots from this congested street were busy and crowded, this one caught a slower, less chaotic moment.

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/8
  • Shutter Speed: 1/400
  • ISO: 800

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Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Mellah Salon”

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Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in the Mellah in Marrakech, Morocco. The Mellah is a walled jewish quarter, similar to European jewish ghettos where the jewish population was confined. While it’s no longer jewish only, it still gives an interesting look at the city’s past. 

There’s a lot of shops and narrow alleys that you can explore and get lost in. While it does have its fair share of tourism in parts, it’s nothing to the degree of the medina, and feels a little more authentic and preserved too. It’s also easier to get away from the crowds and find yourself with only the locals. Which is what happened when I captured this shot.

I had been walking around the Mellah for a while, past all the shops and into a much more quiet maze of smaller alleys. People seemed curious to see a foreigner this far into the Mellah, but at the same time, the street hustlers weren’t around to hassle me so it was a little more relaxing to shoot here.

I was noticing an ad of a woman on the window of a hair salon, when all of a sudden I heard a very loud voice coming from behind the curtain door. I had my camera ready and as soon as she came out, I snapped this photo. I’m not sure what she was talking loudly about, but her facial expression here matched her tone. She actually never even noticed me and after quickly popping out to look down the street, she turned back inside, and continued on with her verbal tirade.

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/8
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 1600

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33 Street Photography Photos From 5 Days in Marrakech, Morocco

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Marrakech was my first experience in Morocco. For photography, it also ended up being my favorite in the country. While not being the easiest place for street photography, it makes up for it in the amount of life to capture. The colors, chaos, unique atmosphere and year-round sunlight make it a place I’d highly recommend to any photographers out there.

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The only thing I would have changed about my time in Marrakech is make it longer. For cities I plan on returning to, it’s at the top of my list.

So here’s 33 photos that I was able to capture during my time in Marrakech…

[Read more…]

7 First Impressions of Marrakech, Morocco
(From a Street Photography Perspective)

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Marrakech was my first stop in Morocco and a city I had wanted to visit for a while. Luckily, it didn’t disappoint at all. Marrakech is a mix of so many things that you have to experience it yourself to really understand how special it is. It’s not all perfect here, but I knew it would be a city I’d want to return to after only the first day. Although it comes with challenges, Marrakech is definitely made for photographers too.

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So here are my first impressions of Marrakech, from my personal Street Photographer perspective…

[Read more…]

Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Marrakech Colors”

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Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken by Place des Ferblantiers in Marrakech, Morocco. This square is in the heart of the Mellah, the old jewish quarter, and just north of the Bahia Palace. It’s also known as the tinsmith’s square due to all the artisans that hand make items out of tin sheets. In addition to these craft shops, there’s a few restaurants too that make it a popular spot to stop.

You also have some busy streets intersecting here, which combined with all the other attractions in the area, make it one of the busier spots to capture life in Marrakech.

For this shot, I had just finished shooting most of the day around the Mellah and was making my way back up to Jemaa el-Fnaa to catch it before sunset. While carefully walking across traffic at the chaotic intersection here, I noticed how nice the light was hitting a collage of colors across the street. The complementary colors of the orange signs and building next to the blue sky, and the purple cloth against the yellow door caught my eye.. 

Just as I noticed the beautiful light and mix of complementary colors, I saw a pale man dressed in matching off-white coming towards me on a bike as I was crossing the street. So while trying not to get hit by any motorcycles, I quickly lowered down and captured the shot as he rode by against the colorful background. The great light and abundance of color within the desert make Marrakech one of the most photogenic cities I’ve been to yet.

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/11
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 400

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Street Shot Sundays
Photos of the Week:
“Grand Taxis”

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Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken at the Grand Taxi street right outside of the medina in Marrakech, Morocco. In Morocco they have two types of taxis, petit taxis and grand taxis. A petit taxi is your normal taxi used for local city transportation, while grand taxis are used for city to city, or village, transportation in a shared taxi system. Grand taxis are also almost exclusively older Mercedes-Benz W123 sedans. 

The Grand Taxi street here is around a kilometer long and filled with these long distance taxis the whole way. I ended up coming here a lot while in Marrakech because it gives an interesting scene. There’s usually a lot of activity with all the people coming for longer distance travel and it can get a little chaotic with the groups of drivers all trying to fill up their taxis. You really don’t see many foreigners using the grand taxis, either.

For this shot, I was walking along a stretch of white grand taxis parked tightly together against a wall. In the middle was a taxi driver trying to squeeze into his cab. I liked the two white taxis against the tan wall with him in the middle dressed in black and an orange cap. The light and shadows were nice too so I walked up closer and took the shot right before he got inside.

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/11
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 400 

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