Morocco Photo Tour: Spending some time in the city of Fes

On this trip, we ended up spending a day and a half in the city of Fes. In the last blog post, I shared images from the largest tannery in the city. There was so much to see that I will add another day in Fes for the 2028 trip to Morocco.

We started our day by following our guide as he lead us through a maze of narrow alleyways through the medina. Trust me, there is no way we would have found any of the sights on our own!

We twisted our way until we came across a single small door that lead us into the Bou Inania Madrasa (a building constructed for religious education) that exemplifies Moroccan architecture. We got there as soon as it opened so that we would have a chance to photograph the building without throngs of tourists.

I started by using the Canon RF 24-105mm lens on the Canon R5 Mark II camera. I did use some perspective correction in Adobe Photoshop to straighten all the lines in this image.

Since the building was not very big, I thought I would try the Canon RF 7-14mm fisheye lens once again, to try and capture as much of the building in one photo as possible.

For one of the few times on this trip, I decided to use the RF 15-35mm lens here. I thought that it would allow me to capture more of the building, but without the wild curvature of the fisheye lens.

I put the camera down low to show more of the tile floor in this wide angle shot.

As we walked to the tannery (shown in the last blog post), I saw this guy with his horse, heading our way. I quickly grabbed this shot with the Canon RF 24-105mm lens. There were so many vendors with horses and donkeys in the medina, that I had to show at least one!

We saw many local artisans in their tiny shops. For this shot, I positioned myself so that I would see the reflection of him in the mirror (adding a little more interest to the photo).

Ali took us over to this guy who was working with metal. I slowed the shutter speed of the camera to 1/8 second and held the camera as still as I could. This slow shutter really shows the path of the sparks. You can see this clearer if you click on the image to see it larger.

This vendor was using a mallet to shape metal. I was taking photos of him when Ali picked another piece of metal which had already been completed. He held it up and I shot images through that, using it as a frame for this image. A perfect "circle within a circle" photo!

I was shooting images as we walked past different vendors and Ali got a little bit ahead of me. I looked ahead and saw him comparing his hand with one of the vendors and captured this image of them having fun. At that moment, I did not know exactly what they were doing.

Once I got closer, I could see what they were doing. There were two vendors who were dyeing yarn. One guy was working with red dye and another guy was working with blue. Clearly, it was discoloring their skin at the same time.

As you can see here, the colors in the final product was really impressive.

This guy was sharpening his knife, which was another great time to slow the shutter of my camera (1/10 sec) to get the spin of the wheel and some pieces of metal flying in the air.

Ali told us that there was a really nice view from our lunch spot, so Laura and I climbed up many stories to see the cityscape.

There was so much happening within the city that you see below us.

Ali had a friend who owned a carpet shop, and he wanted me to take some photos for him. It was a really beautiful building, and I was happy to capture some images for them. I took out the fisheye lens once again and positioned the owner right in the middle (to avoid distorting him), and took this shot. 

We were sitting in this area, where they showed us some amazing carpets. I turned around and captured this photo of the intricate room. Incredible tile work framed with the colors of the carpets. This was the perfect use for the fisheye lens.

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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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• 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: 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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