This is the basement level of an amazing hotel I stayed at in Chefchaouen. I wish I could remember the name of it, but it escapes me at the moment. Whenever I am at a hotel with a really cool pool, I often regret not taking time for a dip. I’m usually out taking photos like a crazy person, so the luxury of having a swim is a bit off the radar. I did, however, take the time to have a Hamam. It was my first one with a Muslim woman who was wearing a headscarf the entire time while I was completely nude. She basically removed the entire top level of my skin and left me bleeding and crying like a little boy. But it was still great.
I started taking photos of all the different doors in this amazing city in Morocco because each one was completely new and perfectly maintained, in a rustic sort of way. It sort of reminded me of all the unique camps at Burning Man and how the creators take pride in all their creations. Anyway, my plan with all the doors was to make some sort of collage or something that showed all the different doors in one photo. But, about halfway through the project, I thought this sounded like sort of a campy idea, so I abandoned it.
I can’t figure out if this is creepy or kind of Japanese-cool. There is a town in the south of Japan called Nagoro where they place life-sized dolls of people that used to live there on permanent display. See the article here. Okay, maybe I’m leaning more towards creepy now that I look at the photos again. I’d like to go there and take photos at night.
Daily Photo – Not a Doll in Morocco
In this perfect little mountain town of Chefchaoen, women dress lavishly with so many different colors. Everyone I saw seemed to have a lot of character and were simply just interesting to watch. Sure, of course, I took photos from time to time, but I mostly just walked around and watched people.
I’ve recently added this to my book suggestions and I encourage you to get it if you are into post-apocalyptic fiction. I decided to read it, because it turns out I’ll be walking with the author, Hugh Howey, on the Camino in September. He’s one of an interesting assortment of about seven people to join the group!
Daily Photo – Getting Lost in Chefchaoeun
This is probably in my top three towns to get lost inside. And boy, is it ever easy to get lost. You’re never in any great fear of getting lost for days on end, so there’s a bit of a safety net there. You can always head downhill and you’ll find yourself at the base of the city, then you can work your way back up to your hotel or whatever. Seeing all these cool doors gave me the idea to take photos of about 50 doors and make a little collage. I never followed up on that idea, though, and got distracted by getting more lost!
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter to find out first about all the new goodies coming up! 🙂
Daily Photo – Chefchaouen in Morocco
Two days in a row for Morocco photos! You can probably tell by now what a colorful country this is. It makes me think a lot about the west, and how drab and neutral-colored our homes can be. It’s not quite like that in Morocco, where they are not afraid of color! I have a soft-spot for that, of course, being the HDR-kinda-guy I am! 🙂
Macphun, Viewbug and I have all teamed up to bring you a series of contests called Explore HDR! There are 6 contests in the series and there are amazing prizes for each contest! This is the first of the 6 contests in the series, and it’s all about getting out there and exploring your inner HDR.
Prizes:
The Grand Jury winner gets G-Tech 1-TB drive and a Serge Ramelli Complete Package
Amateur winner gets 1 month free Arcanum and a metal print from Bay Photo – Gallery Series frame
People’s Choice winner gets $50 Amazon Gift Card and a metal print from Bay Photo – Gallery Series frame
Entries for the first contest in the series close in 19 DAYS! So get out there and start taking photos!
At the end of the series, I will select an overall Series Winner from the best of each previous 6 contests. The overall winner gets a NEW DJI Phantom Vision Advanced Quad!!
I was thinking about making a quadcopter-centric screensaver… I’m still trying to figure out if this is a good idea!
Daily Photo – The Pink Hood
I tried to maximize my exploring in Chefchaouen to see every possible nook and cranny. It’s small enough where 10 hours on foot can get you to photograph the whole town, or at least, the colorful parts of it. The whole place is a soft powdery blue, so you can imagine my surprise when I found this pinky area!
Come on out to the Chicago Photo Walk tonight! It’s a free event, and it’s gonna be amazing… So many great prizes and m
Daily Photo – THE BLUE CITY OF MOROCCO
You may notice that I hardly ever take photos in the middle of the blue day. But I thought it was fitting here, as it was the same tones as this magical city below. This is in Chefchaouen — and if you ever get to Morocco, be sure to get here. It’s hella inconvenient, but you’ll be so happy once you’re actually there. Plus, you’ll be one of the only photographers. Well, except for all the other people that read this!
Are you in New York or near the Hamptons? Come on out to Art Southamption in New York. The work is the one below and it’s printed at about nine feet across (3 meters). We used a very special printing process for it that you can see below. When you get there, look up Dranoff Fine Art or to find out more, you can email him at [email protected]. Here’s a photo he got of it yesterday…
I notice I have absolutely no regularity at all about when I write these blog posts. This one I am writing at 9:17 PM. Most I write quite early in the morning. But it’s really pretty random… I always enjoy it. It’s never a chore… but some days I get a bit busy and it’s hard to squeeze it in! But I think I’ve been pretty good in the past 2-3 years, never missing a day. Sometimes there is a photo mess-up or a strange error repeat, but not too bad, I must s
Daily Photo – Night Streets of Chefchaouen
At night, all the colors of this little mountain town became much more intense. In the daytime, these were kind of a light powdery blue, but at night they seemed much more saturated and intense. It was pretty much like a Disneyland of colors — something new to see around every bend!
Now that I use a lot of Leica lenses with my street photography, they require manual focus. It’s really not that bad, and I used to dread it. But with focus-peeking, it makes everything quite a bit easier. I’d say that I definitely get a better sense of getting things in focus than ever before. It’s also a great challenge. I do miss a FEW shots that I would have gotten with a fast auto-focus, but I also believe I get other ones I would have missed when the autofocus would have messed up!
Daily Photo – In the Streets of Chefchaouen
I saw this gentleman walking down the middle of the roads slowly. He would occasionally hold out his hand slowly and the first time I did it, I put a small pile of coins into it. He then quickly slid the coins inside his jilaba. I saw him again a shade later and took his photo as he was walking right at me.
I made a bunch of videos while in this spot too! Be sure to sign up for our Newsletter to find out when we release these!
Daily Photo – Little Girl in Moroccan Mountain Town
There was a great group of kids that was running all around the streets of Morocco and chasing me. They all spoke French, so I busted out and started singing La Cigale et la Fourmi! They of course knew all the words and we had a great time. They kept following me around while I was taking photos. At the end of the night, there was just this one little girl remaining.