Well, all of Fez is old, but the oldest part is the labyrinth-like bazaar. There are a few entrances to this place, and this is one of the grand gates. It’s unbelievable how lost you can get inside the old bazaar! But there’s really nothing to worry about. Whenever I had four hours to go out and shoot, I would wander randomly for three hours and then leave myself the last hour to find my way out. Sometimes I’d end up at a completely different gate, completely turned around. But that was part of the fun! And, I typically have a Very Good Sense of direction… I think this is because I play so many first-person shooter games!

Entering the old bits of Fez, Morocco

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-03 23:46:52
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/1000
• Aperture8
• ISO200
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

This is one of the best places to photograph in Fes, but it’s not without its downsides. I went here three different times, and it was always a different experience. There are plenty of people milling around outside, convincing you to buy some mint sprigs to keep close to your nose and mouth so you don’t choke on the fumes. I tried it once, and it helped, but I didn’t mind the smell so much. Maybe I’m just strong-minded or something. I figure all those workers out there could handle it, so I could to!

Besides the mint thing, each time a different guide took me up. After taking photos, they would guide me out a 5-story leather shop… really giving me the hard-sell! It’s almost like they don’t understand that photographers are only there to take photos and not to buy anything. Maybe other non-photographer tourists will buy things… The prices seemed pretty good, but I’m not much of a leather-guy. I guess I’d look pretty cool in a leather suit, but it was about 100 degrees and it didn’t seem very practical.

Getting Mint on the way to the Leather Tannery

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-16 01:29:40
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/2000
• Aperture
• ISO100
• Focal Length
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

I shot this inside Fes. As you walk through the tight streets, you’ll occasionally see mysterious little places off to the right and left. Some are mosques, which are hard to get into. Others are little enclaves like this. It only cost a few dollars to get inside, but it was quite beautiful, and they have no problem with tripod shooting, which is even better!

The Intricacies of Morocco

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-04 04:11:17
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/60
• Aperture8
• ISO100
• Focal Length15.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

This is one of my favorite areas in Fes, Morocco. The whole area is known for their various vats for tanning and curing leather. There are several tanneries around the town, some big, some small. This is one of the medium-sized ones that I got into because of a family connection. It was actually a tremendous amount of fun just roaming through this area. I walked all around down inside, stepped over vats, almost fell in a few times, etc.

The smell was supposed to be pretty bad, but it wasn’t as bad as I suspected. Just in case, while walking through one of the nearby food markets, I bought a sprig of mint the keep with me just in case I was overpowered!

The Tanning Vats

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-16 02:33:40
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/125
• Aperture13
• ISO125
• Focal Length13.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

I went through this dodgy area of Fes one night to try to climb up a hillside to get a view of the mountain. It was actually perfectly safe, and everyone was smiling and happy. I now know how to speak just a little bit of Arabic, at least enough to get by. I thought this run-down area was actually kind of beautiful in its own way, so I set up to take a photo…

The Safe Slums of Fes, Morocco

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-16 08:02:35
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time8
• Aperture7.1
• ISO200
• Focal Length15.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1

I love Moroccan lamps! I love them so much that I bought nine of them while I was in Fes and had them shipped back here. Now that was a real fiasco because of customs. I think I paid about $500 for the lamps and $600 just to get them in the country! It’s so maddening… I know that the name of this blog is Stuck In Customs, but that was meant to be a bit playful… now all that seems to be Stuck In Customs is my lamps and my money! 🙁

Lamp Shopping in Fes

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-04 06:03:58
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time0.7
• Aperture11
• ISO100
• Focal Length13.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-2

I arrived here late at night, so this was the first thing I saw. The train ride took way longer than expected, and it is often a strange feeling to arrive at a foreign place at night. Everything has a patina of mystery and you really feel like you’re on another planet. I was happy to be up high to get a view of everything… the clouds were very low, and the pink & orange lights from the city gave everything an odd but magical glow.

Fes in the Night

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-03 12:33:27
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time15
• Aperture5.6
• ISO200
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-0.7

When I am in places like this and everyone is in rich, colorful outfits, it kind of makes me wish the whole world was like this! Wouldn’t it be cool if everyone was dressed exotically all the time? I guess you’d have to rotate the cultural styles every year or so… because I doubt any culture considers itself to be exotic. But this plan would require everyone to be constantly buying new clothes as the rotation period comes around. On second thought, it is a terrible idea (but not my worst).

Woman in Fes

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-13 06:22:06
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/3200
• Aperture
• ISO400
• Focal Length
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

It was so awesome when Anton Lorimer from SmugMug joined me in Morocco! He brought his DJI Quadcopter and we tried some crazy things with it! He’s really fearless with that thing, and he had it fly over me in many places there… We had such a good time with it! In this photo, you can see Anton and Ana (his assistant for the week) below controlling it. I believe he’s editing together the video for it now… I’m looking forward to seeing his final edit!

Quadcopter Over Fes

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-15 19:50:22
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/20
• Aperture19
• ISO100
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

I had an amazing time watching everything in these leather tanneries. This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this, and it was mesmerizing. The men would work these areas and move leather from one area to the next to be dried, cured, died, and every other stage in between. The smell was rather noxious (quite a bit of fermenting urine), but it was great for photography! I took a ton of photos… this is one of them for you!

Tanneries in Fez

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-16 00:50:48
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/350
• Aperture8
• ISO125
• Focal Length13.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias