Category: Inspiration

The photos in my slideshow are from a photography trip I took with my daughter to Morocco in May 2012.  The focus was mostly on street photography.  It was definitely a memorable experience, and looking at the pictures brings me right back to the places we visited.

It was through Strabo Tours, and the professional photographer was JJ Weiss (who has since passed on).  His biography:

I had the greatest good fortune to begin photography as an apprentice to the legendary Minor White at M.I.T.  That blessing was even more enhanced when I got my M.F.A., studying with Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind,  both master photographers, at the Rhode Island School of Design. Just six years after printing my first photo, I  was appointed to a professorship in art at the University of Delaware, where I led the photo program for 30  years. Our graduate studies program was praised by The Photo Review for its “outstanding contribution to photography,” and I was also cited for an Excellence in Teaching award. In 2006, I received national recognition as Teacher of the Year by the Santa Fe Center for Photography. I’ve led 30 photo safaris and tours for Strabo.

The description of the tour

Morocco is a beautiful country filled with friendly people and irresistible allure. Most excitingly, photographs seem to beckon around every corner.  There is so much to see. Marrakech is home to the famous outdoor market, Djemaa el Fna, perhaps the greatest open-air spectacle in the world. Among many delights, you will see snake charmers, dance troupes, and storytellers regaling fascinated listeners with tall tales. In Fes, the center of culture and religious learning, we will photograph in its ancient Medina. Kiosks abound all over, vendors selling their goods much as they did thousands of years ago. This year, we’ve added a new destination in the north, Chefchaouen.  Pronounced, shef-shau-en, the town was founded in 1492 by Moorish exiles from Spain. Our accommodations are set in the hillside, just above the town, away from the hustle and bustle of the medina, yet within walking distance to the areas where we’ll be photographing.  In the medina, the outdoor market vendors sell all sorts of vegetables and fruits amid the narrow cobbled alleyways of whitewashed walls and blue doors. It’s a photographer’s delight.  And, of course, our visit to the Sahara is a particularly unique adventure. We arrive in mid-afternoon, photographing the dunes, the camels, and the herders. Then we are witnesses to one of the most amazing sunsets you will ever see. Following an al fresco dinner, and entertained by tribal musicians, we sleep, then rise before dawn, where Tuareg tribesmen help us to mount our camels, and ride up the dunes to photograph the magnificent Saharan sunrise.

Debbie Pinard