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!
__________________________________________________________
• 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.
_________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment