Shooter Files by f.d. walker

Street Photography Tips, Interaction, Travel, Guides

Shooter Files Series

Quotes For The Streets: Jack Kerouac – The Best Teacher is Experience

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“The best teacher is experience and not through someone’s distorted point of view.”

― Jack Kerouac

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You’ve heard this sentiment before? Probably. A little cliché? Sure. True? Definitely. Plus, it sounds a little cooler coming from Jack Kerouac.

How Does it Relate to Photography?

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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

    Marrakech Shooter Files-10

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…

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Master Profiles: Mark Cohen

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* “Master Profiles” is a series profiling all the great photographers of uncontrolled life. Unlike the rest of the blog, I’m doing these in a straight profile format to make it easy for quick access to facts, quotes and knowledge on all the masters. I’ll also group them together here every time I add a new one.

Profile:

Mark Cohen (1943-Present)

American photographer known for his extremely close-up flash Street Photography.

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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…

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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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City Street Guides by f.d. walker:
A Street Photography Guide to
Prague, Czech Republic

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*City Street Profiles is a series of guides on shooting Street Photography in cities across the world. One of the biggest things I found lacking on the internet was Street Photography info for specific cities so you can be ready to shoot when traveling to a new city. Find the best spots to shoot, what to capture, safety concerns, street tips, and more for cities around the world.  (I have personally shot Street Photography in every city that I create a guide for.)

Prague

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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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