Morocco 2025: Analogue - Misadventures

After three solid days of walking the city, I did something I don't usually do and took a ride on one of those hop-on, hop-off tourist buses that tend to be found in the big city.

After shooting in the region of 250K photographs. This set is a first. The first roll of film put through my 1968 Olympus EE-2. The first using time an experimental film from Revlog - SNOVLOX, for that snowy, wintery feel. But mainly because this is the first roll of film that I personally developed (equal first, there were two rolls in the tank. This just happened to come out first). See below for the accompanying travelogue post.

The description of Aït Benhaddou and in particular it's ksar features many words that are magic to my ears; "UNESCO World Heritage Site", "Indiana Jones shooting location"

Some days it just all goes wrong. This was one of them. I'd been working in Chennai on a secondment and was coming to the end of my time there, where I'd have a couple of weeks to myself. This was the first place I visited, and promptly began feeling sick about 10 minutes after arriving. It was a scorching day, and I'd arrived with the sun at it's highest. I dragged myself around the complex for a single lap stopping as many times to throw up as I did to take a photo, before collapsing into the rear seat of the hotel car for the long ride home.

This spectacular complex is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia and 2nd largest in South East Asia after Angkor Wat although it predates it by nearly 3 centuries. It was one of so many incredible locations throughout Java that I had no idea existed prior to arriving in Indonesia and why that part of my backpacking days are so fondly remembered, with every day including a new discovery.

The weather finally broke and I grabbed my bike and onto the ferry for a four day round-trip ride to Mont Saint-Michel, a true bucket list location that I've tried to get to for the last 6 years and been tripped on in one way or another from Covid to an operation on my arm. Unfortunately the day I got their it was enveloped in thick fog to the point where I could barely see it even thought I was there. The Abby was also closed due to an emergency so I didn't get to see as much as I'd hope. Which just means I have to go back. The weather played another trick by whipping up a storm the day I was supposed to go home. So a cancelled ferry meant an unexpected day in Saint-Malo. I'm glad it arrived that day as I'd have really struggled with the bike to get back there if was a riding day. But despite the hiccups, the riding was fun and I enjoyed myself. The intention is to spend more time with my bike in France and exploring what is on my doorstep.

A Soviet era Nuclear Missile base with four silos buried deep in the woods in a quiet part of Lithuania. Now converted into a museum. Frankly this place left me with a haunted feeling, knowing within half an hour of a call destruction could be sent to one of many targets. Seeing these marked upon maps still on display somehow made it even more real.

Vanalinn, or Tallinn Old Town is a place with bags of character, exemplified by the near ubiquitous red tiles and bricks that give the buildings a unique 'glow'. I tend to gravitate to Black & White, but this city demanded to be shot in colour.

A night in luxury aboard the RMS Queen Mary. A once proud jewel of the oceans reduced to a floating hotel. She may have been grubby and crumbling in places, but the charm and beauty remained.

A walk around Kew Gardens at night, guided by Christmas Illuminations.