Showing posts with label Black and White Pictures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black and White Pictures. Show all posts

Monday, 29 December 2008

Forgotten by the Sate of Morocco

Since starting this blog I have spent a bit of time trying to work out the direction I would like to take it.  The honest answer is I don't really know.  It will be a little bit of everything.  I really need more than one blog but certainly don't have the time to do that.  My interests lie in everything Moroccon - food, culture, history, tradition, fashion, events, tourism you name it so this blog will cover it all.  It will be very photo based but this won't develop a great deal until I get there as my portfolio of pictures is currently quite small.

I have discovered the Moroccan Foundation which is a charitable organisation devoted to helping the underpriveledged.  One particular arm of it that I am interested in is for the small villages that are too far from anywhere to be able to register themselves as citizens. These are Moroccos forgotten people.  They have no hospital or local office - nothing.  Here is a link which gives a little more information:  forgotten by the Moroccan state



It quite surprised me to watch this video but it has also inspired me to try and help.  I have contacted the foundation and hope that they may be able to use me in some way to document these forgotten people photographically.  By photographing them in B & W and in an artistically interesting way it is possible that their plight may be taken to a wider audience.


Friday, 19 December 2008

More pictures of Marrakech

In this period of waiting to get to Marrakech I cannot help but keep going back to the pictures It took whilst there.  Funny how it is not home yet but I feel homesick looking at them!  







The picture above is the entrance to Ksar Char Bagh on the edge of the Palmerai.  It is a splendid piece of architecture and is very much based on Alhambra in Grenada, Spain.  We stayed for one night on one of our trips and were looked after amazingly.  We had one of the best meals we have had in Marrakech although it was very French and not at all a Marrakech experience. The pool here is very long and narrow and great for actually having a swim. The gardens are huge and they have a very cool hamman/spa.  The bedrooms are huge and most have large terraces. We thought the rooms were very cool but others have commented that they are quite sparce and lacking in cosy places to sit which I suppose is true.  We will definitely go back there again. 
The restaurant manager is worth a little mention as well as he was fantastic.  But not only that we had mutual friends.  Every year we go to a little village called Pegairolles in Languedoc, South of France.  A tiny little village that no-one has ever heard of let alone been there. On the edge of Pegairolles there is fabulous little restaurant called Le Temps de Vivre.  It was opened a couple of years ago by the ex head chef of Le Jardin des Sans in Montpellier France. Well, this chap from Ksar Char used to be the restaurant manager at Le Jardin in Montpellier and therefore is good friends with the family who now own Temps de Vivre. It was strange to turn up at Ksar Char and talk with mutual fondness about a small restaurant in the back of beyond. A small world.

Thursday, 18 December 2008

Marrakech street scenes

As a keen photographer Morocco is like heaven for me.  I intend whilst living there to document the life of the desert Arabs and the Berbers.  

I have for now though been enjoying taking a mixture of pictures around Marrakech.


stray dog asleep in the grass

lady with child in the souk

old doors for sale 

Marrakech taxis

new road that will eventually be part of the main road from Marrakech to Casablanca