Morocco Photo Tour: A must visit to the Chouara tannery in Fes

While in Fez, Morocco, we were told that one of the highlights of the city tour was a visit to the local tannery, where they process the hides from cows, sheep and other animals for leather products. I was told that it was a cool thing to photograph, but had no expectations.

As it turned out, it was a VERY cool place to photograph!

We walked through the medina (narrow walkways through the city) and eventually entered a leather store. We thought that maybe we were there to look at the jackets and other products for sale, but instead of shopping, our guide took us up a couple of flights of stairs and ended up on a rooftop. We looked down over the workers who were processing the hides in different vats, in the same manner that they have been doing for centuries. Some of the vats had mixtures for softening the skins and others had dye for coloring.

The hides are hung around the perimeter of the tannery to dry. I should mention that when we arrived at the tannery, we were offered mint leaves to hold in front of our noses as the smell can get pretty bad. Laura used hers, and I did not. 

While we visited different rooftops to get different vantage points of the tannery, I also noticed the onslaught of satellite dishes, and had to take a photo of that!

I was using the Canon R5 Mark II with the RF 24-105mm lens from the rooftop, which allowed me to get nice wide shots (like you saw before) and tight shots like this.

It was fascinating to watch the workers who worked inside the vats.

This guy was spinning the hides to remove the excess moisture, before starting the drying process. I saw the drum begin to spin and thought that this would make an awesome slow shutter photo. I switched the settings of the Canon R5 Mark II to ISO 100 at f/16 which gave me a shutter speed of 1/10 sec. I asked the man to stay still and then started shooting. I was shooting handheld, so I slowed my breathing, held on tight, and took numerous photos. I really like the final result.

Our next stop was inside one of the rooms of the tannery, where we saw this man working on the hides. He was standing in the room with the the light coming through an opening in front of him. It was perfect light for a portrait. Our guide helped me position the man for this shot.

I took the same image and processed it in black and white. I like both. Which one do you prefer?

We also got a chance to see this guy who was finishing up the final work on this goat skin.

I thought that we were done at the tannery when Ali (our guide) asked us to follow him. We ended up down at the vats, at the same level as the workers and it was a photographers dream.

I was taking portraits from all angles.

For this shot, I focused on the hides in front of me, making them the main subject of the image, while including the workers in the background to tell a story.

I waited for the workers to toss the hides and took photos trying to catch the splash of the water.

There were so many cool angles to take photos from.

I really liked capturing images of this guy with the drying hides in the background.

These last two photos show my favorite subject at the tannery. This guy had a great look, with the cap and long beard. He was processing the hide right in front of me, and provided so many great photos. I will look for him on the next trip. I know my guests will want photos of him!

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• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Costa Rica, Peru, Galapagos, Africa, Iceland and more.

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
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Morocco Photo Tour: The Roman Ruins of Volubilis

When you think of Morocco, I'll bet that you don't think of Roman ruins. I know that I didn't have that on my shot list for the visit, but was happily surprised to see some amazing ruins in Volubilis. 

This site is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with excavations starting in 1915 and still going on today. Ali asked us how long we wanted to walk around the ruins, and I told him that we probably needed about 45 minutes. I was definitely wrong about that!

As we walked around the ruins, I kept looking for interesting vantage points, aiming for something different from what 99% of the mobile phone shooters were taking. I looked for flowers and other interesting foregrounds and backgrounds.

I saw these two red poppies growing out of a wall and thought that they would make a perfect subject in front of the ruins. I had to hike my way to them, but it was well worth it.

As I photographed in this area, I kept thinking of all the teaching I could do here. There were so many interesting patterns and unique vantage points.

Going at this time of year provides cooler weather and greener hillsides.

As I mentioned earlier, they are still excavating much of the ruins, but in the last hundred years they have found some incredible discoveries, like this mosaic floor.

As you can see, we had overcast weather, which actually worked well for photography. This provided nice even light over the ruins, without the harsh light and shadows of direct sun.

I looked for interesting reflections in the puddles, but did not find much.

I saw this one column standing on it's own, and in front of the farmland in the distance. I really liked the contrast between the ancient ruins and the agriculture of today. I also liked the patterns and lines in the distance.

I took this photo to show more columns, this time with the nearby city and mountains in the background.

There were a fair number of people visiting Volubilis when we were there, and I had to wait a couple of minutes to get a clean shot like this, without anyone in the photo.

Same for this photo.

We looked at the time and realized that we needed at least another 30 minutes to explore more of the area. 

The more we walked around, the more incredible things we saw. 

For most of the year, there are not any flowers in this area, but we were there at the right time to get pretty flowers like this. This is why I am aiming to do the next photo tour at the same time of year.

More to come from Morocco in the next blog posts.

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• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Costa Rica, Peru, Galapagos, Africa, Iceland and more.

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
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Morocco Photo Tour: Visiting the "Blue City" of Chefchaoen!

When working on the itinerary for the Morocco photo tour, I knew that the one city that would lend itself most to photography would be Chefchaoen, also known as Morocco's "Blue City". We were definitely looking forward to getting to Chefchaoen to see if it would live up to the expectations.

Our driver pulled up to a stopping point, our guide grabbed our suitcases and we followed him along some cobblestoned roads. After a minute or two we ended up at a large blue exterior door. When we walked into the door, we were surprised to see how large and pretty the building was on the inside. More on that in a minute...

We dumped our things in the room and then Ali took us around to see some of the sites. We were excited to see all the blue walkways and buildings, but we were also not expecting to see so many cats roaming the streets.

I was taking a photo of this stairway when three cats came running down the steps. At the time, I thought "what are the chances of that?!"  After spending almost two weeks in Morocco, I now know that the cats are everywhere in this country.

As we walked around in the late afternoon, there were a lot of tourists walking the narrow streets. Our guide told us that we were going to walk around the next morning at 8am and we would have the walkways to ourselves. In the mean time, I saw this peacock and thought that it added to the blue theme of the afternoon. I positioned myself so that I would have some of the blue building in the background and took this photo with the Canon R5 Mark II and RF 24-105mm f/4 lens.

The next morning we woke up and had the place to ourselves. It was just us and a bunch of cats. It was great to take photos unobstructed.

It was fun to walk around and try to find great compositions. 

There were interesting photos at almost every turn in this small town...

...and built-in subjects as well.

Here is a shot of Ali, who was nice enough to dress in traditional clothing. He was also a great subject for me.

When I say that there are cats everywhere in this country, I mean everywhere!

After taking portraits of Ali and Laura in different locations, Laura suggested that I step in for some. 

Ali wrapped his scarf around Laura and I took this portrait of her. I really like it because it is so different.

I even taught Ali how to use back button focus and he took some photos of Laura and I.

After shooting mostly blue stairways, I started looking for other interesting locations. 

This guy was baking bread in this wood fire oven, and I loved the contrast between the orange fire and the blue walls. I was able to climb down into the room with him to get this shot. I had the ISO set to 3200 and still only had a 1/15 second shutter speed. Luckily neither he or I moved much, so I could get a clear shot.

More fun doorways...

...and interesting walls.

Photographing in Chefchaoen was really fun. I really loved exploring the different narrow walkways and trying to find the best photo locations. These will come in handy in 2028 when I bring my next group here.

I saw this cool doorway and wanted to get a shot of it, but the walkway was so narrow, I was not sure it was possible. Luckily I had my RF 7-14mm fisheye lens with me. I put that lens on the Canon R5 Mark II and took this shot from just feet away. This lens is so wide that, even though Ali was standing almost parallel to me,  I kept having to move him to get him out of the frame. 

Laura and I went back out to take more photos after lunch. This time I was wearing a blue shirt, and so we took a couple more portraits. The tough part of editing these photos is removing the blue color cast on our skin. I will teach that technique on the photo tour.

In the next blog post, I will take you to Volubilis to see the Roman ruins. Something very different from the blue colors of Chefchaoen. This is one of the things that we liked best about Morocco. Every city offers a completely different "look" from the last. Variety at every turn!

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• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Costa Rica, Peru, Galapagos, Africa, Iceland and more.

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
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