This is a good example of why it’s nice to have a fast, prime lens at dark situations! Many experienced people will already know this, but I’ll explain it for those that don’t! When you shoot at night, it’s hard to get a lot of light into the camera quickly to make a good photo. But if you have a wide open aperture, in this case, f/1.4, you can take very fast shots that are not blurry without too much noise. The other nice side-effect (or maybe even, the main-effect) is that you get this nice depth-of-field effect where only one bit is in focus as the foreground and background fade away into bokeh.

Lamps in Marrakech

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-13 08:26:48
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/200
• Aperture
• ISO1250
• Focal Length
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

I spent many great hours with this gentleman. He was very nice and spoke perfect English. You may remember another photo I published a month ago when he was wearing Google Glass! 🙂 I took this photo outside in the streets of Chefchaouen, and I used a Leica 50mm prime at f/1.4 on the Sony A7r.

Berber Man in Morocco

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-17 05:49:31
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/1500
• Aperture
• ISO100
• Focal Length
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

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

I absolutely loved my time in the Sahara. I did not expect the dunes to be as overpowering as they were. It was completely overwhelming, in an awesome way. Everything is so minimalist that it makes photography extra-fun and challenging. To move across this endless sea of sand — where do you aim your camera? This one I actually took while I was on a camel. Taking photos while riding a camel Is Not Easy — this I now can say with all certainty! 🙂

On Camel, Across the Sahara Desert

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-08 05:47:37
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/500
• Aperture8
• ISO100
• Focal Length70.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

This was the entrance to one of the most amazing places I ate in Morocco. So, there are these places called “riads” — which is like a small family-based hotel. It’s somewhere between a hotel and a bed & breakfast. They often have a central courtyard and rooms that face inwards that go up three or four stories. Many of them serve dinners, like this one I visited. This long red hallway was the entrance to the riad, and more pictures are coming… maybe even some food photos!

A hallway of mirrors in Rabat

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-02 08:50:29
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time3
• Aperture6.7
• ISO160
• Focal Length14.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• 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

Other than Rabat and Casablanca, this is the only other seaside town I visited in Morocco. It’s amazing! All the boats are painted with this bright nautical blue. They stand out and look full of fantasy and wonder. You can see all these little boats are blue in the photo, but you can also see those same kind of blue accents on the bigger boats in the distance. I like how it is a voluntary thing and everyone just paints their boats this color to be part of the scene… that it’s not a government mandate or anything!

The Blue Boats of Essaouira

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-14 07:09:44
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/100
• Aperture18
• ISO160
• Focal Length11.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1

This is a Aït Benhaddou, an incredible kasbah near Ouarzazate, Morocco. I’ve always wanted to visit this place ever since I saw it in Gladiator. It’s the place where Russell Crowe was taken on a stretcher and where he learned to become a gladiator. You may also remember it if you watch Game of Thrones. It’s one of the spots where Daenerys took her dragons with the unsullied.

Where Daenerys Targaryen Dragon-Roasted the Slavers

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-11 00:03:01
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/750
• Aperture9.5
• ISO250
• 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

Just recently, I met this gentleman in the wilds beyond the desert. He was so curious and interested in Glass. Absolutely transfixed, he asked me everything about it, then tried it on and played and played and played! He loved it!

First I had him go through the same demo I give everyone. I have them say, “Okay Glass, Take a picture” — it understands pretty much every accent around the world as far as I can tell. This always makes people freak out with excitement when they see the photo they just took floating as a hologram in front of their eyes.

Then he started using it more and more, going through all my emails, watching videos, seeing my text messages, asking Google questions, checking weather… I mean it just went on and on and on… and then he started showing all his friends and telling them about it — he was so excited. Naturally, he was happy for me to take his photo while he was playing!

We ended up talking about a bunch of different things. I even bought an old used knife from him, and he showed me how to stick the curved end of it into a camel’s hump to get water in an emergency. There’s another part of the knife you use to seal up the little puncture wound. Then we talked about meditation, the sealing of the four cardinal spiritual doors in the night before entering the tent, different cultures around the world, and well, about a dozen other things. Anyway, it was great…

Exploring the World with Google Glass

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2014-03-17 08:50:53
• CameraILCE-7R
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/60
• Aperture
• ISO800
• Focal Length
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias