Africa is not like I thought it would be

Stagehand

Allow me to introduce myself.

Jason is my name. Nice to meet all of you... hope to make it a nice long stay here... been browsing for a while, and thought maybe I had something to add. I have a veritable TRUCKLOAD of photos I've been accumulating and needed something to do with them, as their combined mass might just cause an small singularity, and suck all nearby internets into them, never to be heard from again-- so I thought maybe distributing the load somewhat would be good...
In reality, its a simple case of "I've suffered for my art, now its your turn!":D

My very first thread here shall be about a trip taken almost two years ago.



I would not have had the chance, or the inclination for that matter to try Morocco as a destination, but for the desires of my girlfriend who has a passion for travelling. Some places in the world, its hard to point the camera and not get a good shot.
This is the city of Fes, I think: Our guide must have been working in colusion with the carpet sellers. We were given a tour of the building.. had some sweet tea on the roof, and then were shown endless reams of carpeting... all amazing- with the gentleman asking us sideways questions like: "If you were going to buy such a carpet, how much would you consider paying?"



We did buy one, but managed in our first exprience at haggleing to talk him from $900 to $400. The rug looks Awesome at home. :thumb



Sometimes I throw the camera on black and white-- it seems trite, but sometimes its worth it.

In a LomoRules sort of way, I shot this one over my shoulder as I was briskly wandering through the souks. This is the Metalworker's area...




The very first thing I did on Jan 1 2006 was ride a camel in the Saharan desert.

Here is our guide:







We were not the only touristas in the Erg that day, but we were one of few!








This would be the place of legend refered to in the phrase "come with me to the casbah, where we can make beautiful music together" :rofl
It is Casbah Tamado, outside of Marrakesh. Owned by Richard Branson:





CasaBlanca reminds me of a forest floor after it rains:




The Largest Mosque in the world: that of Hassan II:





Wonderful Girlfriend actually took this one of me, but I really like it:




Most streets in the Medinas in Fes are very narrow. Ridiculously so:





In Rabat, the capitol of Morroco, and the cover of my next gospel album:




Kids playing:




Pelicans:





It is a small country, but the distances inside it are great, and the variations of culture and topography are even bigger.





Casbah Tamado, in the Atlas Mountains outside Marrakesh:




There is only one company in all of Morocco that runs Balloon rides, and La Pilote parle seulement francais:







Life in the Atlas seems bleak to my american perspective:









Just so happens there was a famous race happening while we were there:







So This is the Africa I had in mind:



I got that, but I got a lot more, as well.

Poverty:



Riches:




Hopefully I've put this in the right forum, hopefully its in the appropriate format, and hopefully you've enjoyed the photos... If this has any traction at all, I've got a few more hundred thousand photos lurking in the smugmug servers :deal


Thanks a lot for reading!

Jason

Art Scott

A great series.......

mr peas

loved looking through it. very interesting fotos. thanks for sharing!

mayassa

Thanks for the journey

DoctorIt

I wasnt sure if it was you for a bit there, but then I saw the first rally photo.
Howdy Jason

good to see another advrider sharing photos of great journeys! My favorite:

Moogle Pepper

:oogle

wow!!

How bad was maneuvering in those tight alley ways? Your trip looked awesome!! I bet you had tons of adventures!

chopsky

lol
Morocco isn't REAL Africa It's more middle-eastern.
Come visit me in South Africa and I'll take you on a tour of the real africa.

mr peas

chopsky wrote:

lol
Morocco isn't REAL Africa It's more middle-eastern.
Come visit me in South Africa and I'll take you on a tour of the real africa.

I will take you on that offer someday.

Ann McRae

Thank you for sharing these. Great series, well presented, with interesting perspectives and commentary. Perfect journey!!

ann

Stagehand

thank you very much, guys, and Erik- Nice to see you! I'd heard you had abandonded the Commonwealth. I hope Oz is treating you well- We're finally getting a decent amount of snow here for a change. :lol

I agree, morocco is only a small sample of Africa in general, but in all honesty it seems the tamest and most accessible for the initiate. The rest of africa scares the willys out me Kenya was next on our list-- but that seems a little farther off, now. Mt. Kilimanjaro, perhaps?

So I only brought home about 750 pics from that trip... I'll put the last of my favorites up, then I suppose then next thread, I'll combine trips...


This is Wonderful Girlfriend at the Hassan II mosque:



A Self-Portrait:




Meeting the race out on the Dunes:




I wish I could include an audio recording of the call to prayer, broadcast from the top of the tower and heard throughout the city:





City walls, to protect against the barbarian hordes:



I dont remember where this is from, but I thought it was cool. The outsides of the buidings bear very little resemblance to the architecture inside.




Medinas are the old sections of town. Medinas are often divided into Souks, which are equivalent to the "garment district" or the "fish markets." They have Metalworkers Souks, and spices, fabrics, leatherworking... etc.. They are often covered to sheild them from the sun:




Here is a metalsmith shop:




Saharan dawn:

DoctorIt

Stagehand wrote:

thank you very much, guys, and Erik- Nice to see you! I'd heard you had abandonded the Commonwealth.

Yeah, but just temporarily... I'll be putting out feelers for a new GS in the NE area in no time. It's nice down here, warm

outstanding shot, simple:

RBrogen

A wonderful set.

ChrisJ

Great journey. My wife and I thought about visiting Morocco when we were in southern Spain many years ago... I'm sorry we didn't!

Tee Why

Nice stuff.
That mosque is impressive.

Awais Yaqub

Great photos ! and journey just enjoyed it
But heard Faisal Mosque is world's largest

Stagehand

Awais Yaqub wrote:

Great photos ! and journey just enjoyed it
But heard Faisal Mosque is world's largest

I stand corrected! you are correct, sir. The place is huge, anyway.. I think it serves well over 20,000 at a time? maybe wrong...


In the interest of full disclosure, I think those are storks, not pelicans, as well.

Awais Yaqub

Stagehand wrote:

I stand corrected! you are correct, sir. The place is huge, anyway.. I think it serves well over 20,000 at a time? maybe wrong...


In the interest of full disclosure, I think those are storks, not pelicans, as well.

:haha300,000

Stagehand

Awais Yaqub wrote:

:haha300,000

Hassan II can hold 300,000? :eek or Faisal? I think if 300K were in Hassan at once, Casa would be emptied... Forgive my ignorance of Islamic religious structures, but is Faisal in Saudi Arabia?

Awais Yaqub

Stagehand wrote:

Hassan II can hold 300,000? :eek or Faisal? I think if 300K were in Hassan at once, Casa would be emptied... Forgive my ignorance of Islamic religious structures, but is Faisal in Saudi Arabia?

No need for asking for forgivnes

Faisal Mosque is in Pakistan's capital Islamabad which can hold 300,000 worshipers at a time. It was gift by Saudis to Pakistani people

Hassan II can hold up to 100,000. According to Wikipedia

Panther

Howdy Jason,

What a wonderful journey and great narrative.

Very nicely seen and shot!!

Thanks so much for sharing, looking forward to

seeing more of your work.

Tessa HD

welcome Jason - I enjoyed looking through your photos! they're wonderful!

Yuri Pautov

, Spasibo (Thank you in Russian), Jason!
Very good story and wonderful photos.
Yuri

schmoo

Thank you for sharing! Great narrative and the photos are the perfect accompaniment.

Stagehand

Well thanks, guys. thanks a lot.

I've been bombarding the forums with archive photos lately.. so have been trying to lay off a bit :-)


I want to start on the Norway/Iceland trip and the Chile/Argentina one soon...

schmoo

Stagehand wrote:

I want to start on the Norway/Iceland trip

Oh yes, I think we want that, too!

kitvan

wow- really interesting shots! looks like a fascinating place

nice series!

Hyllmark92

Love the photos! Looks like a great place, I was supposed to go there in april, but didn't work out. Envy you!

summerz

Those are amazing, really tells a story, thanks.

digitalpins

your photos are amazing thanks for sharing and a great story along with them