Morocco 2025: Analogue - Misadventures

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.

It's the second time I've been here and the second time I've come away feeling a bit uninspired. I feel it shows in my photography. Looking online at other peoples images, the best take a very low angle with an ultrawide in courtyards and either a closed venue or a hell of a lot of digital erasure of other visitors. Of both my times in Morocco, this is the place I've struggled to capture.

A late afternoon walk around the Estonian city of Tartu.

A dull but crisp morning walk around Greenwich Market a few days before Christmas. I knew there would be Christmas lights all over so shot with a star filter. I'm still not sure that was the right call, but it's good to try something different occasionally.

The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is a world wonder that truly lives up to its reputation. A set of memories rather than a great set of photos. I'd not slept in around 72 hours, was struggling a bit physically and once I set foot on the wall was suddenly hit by the realisation that I no longer had a job, was actually at a place I'd dreamt of since I was a kid and at the start of a grand adventure. What a place to start it.

Day 1 of my trip to Morocco started with the magnificent architecture of Morocco's Grand Mosque in Casablanca.

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"

I love epic train journeys, and three days straight-through from the north to the south of Australia in backpacker class certainly sounds epic. That is until the reality of the 5am New Years Day hangover start time, the small seat which is now your bed, the lack of stops to get off and explore and that the Australian bush is near unchanging until you near the coasts! Great experience overall. Just split it up with a break in the middle if you can, unlike me that fit it between flights.

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.