Entries by Robert

The riads of Marrakech, the mountain guest houses and the nomadic desert camps all shared the same Moroccan tradition, they greeted us with a tea ceremony on our arrival.

Sugar sweetened mint tea is most common but during our stay in Morocco we were offered brews of green and black blends, mint leaf tea blends and various combinations with and without sugar.

It’s quite special watching the tea being poured into tiny cups from a half meter above without a drop being spilled.

Here Adnane deftly demonstrates his skill dealing with a heavy teapot, sloping ground and a fresh crosswind, all while maintaining his boyish smile. A most hospitable teatime welcome in the desert.


#Morocco #travel #mint #tea #tradition #desert #nomad #ceremony

Somewhere in the heart of Morocco we watched a band of bikers emerge from the distance, turn into the place where we were and pull up as a group. Should we be concerned?

The moment helmets came off and they shared their beaming faces with each other I felt the same joy and elation of travelling with friends, exploring far away places and sharing extraordinary experiences.

Perhaps they started their travel as strangers and became friends on the road, perhaps they were life long friends. What matters, like us, they were sharing the time of their lives.


#Morocco #travel #bikers #motobikes #comrades #mates #friends #blackandwhite

In this quiet moment I watch a camel handler appear from the dunes to the east, make their way unhurriedly past me, and finally disappear among the dunes to my west. This scene could be from a month or a year ago. It could be one hundred years old, even one thousand.

But the form of these dunes is not the same as the dunes of a thousand years ago. These are not the dunes of one hundred years ago, or even a year. This landscape is ever changing, always reshaping itself.


#Morocco #travel #sand #dunes #camels #desert #landscape #nomads

Moving through the dark and sunlit alleys of El Khorbat, both eyes and cameras struggled to adjust to the dramatic changes in light.

This image of young boys hanging out would have turned out very different if my camera was on fully automatic. Instead, this chance shot captures laughter, movement and fun in away I could never have planned.


#Morocco #elkhorbat #desert #travel #ksar #people #alleyways #motion #blur #desertlife #boys

El Khorbat was one of the most amazing places I experienced in Morocco. It is a 150 year old fortified village, otherwise known as a ksar, built entirely of rammed earth. A fortress in the desert.

Its internal grid of alleys and side alleys, mostly hidden within the greater ksar structure, creates an undercover labyrinth providing protection from the wind and the desert heat outside.

As we moved through the village we caught glimpses of people far off down side alleys going about their business under shafts of sunlight piercing the darkness.


#Morocco #elkhorbat #desert #travel #ksar #structure #people #alleyways #labyrinth

Wild places, and especially desolate ones, stir things deep and unspoken within us. They bring us thoughts and feelings and ideas that delight, enthral, confuse and sometime even scare.

I wonder how many lives have changed in profound ways simply from the experience of some wild and desolate place giving them some new vision.

I wonder if these people will ever be the same again.


#Morocco #ergchebbi #sand #dunes #blackandwhite #travel #sahara #desert #moody #silhouette

This unlikely juxtaposition of Saharan desert, campfire and ghostly lithium-driven illumination tells much about modern travel and exotic remote places.

Wherever we go we almost expect the ether will be filled with those precious radio waves that bring an intrusive internet into places where perhaps it should not be.

Danny and Silvi, lit by their devices, exemplify being present and being elsewhere in the same moment.


#Morocco #ergchebbi #travel #sahara #desert #dunes #night #blackandwhite #moody

The wind dropped, the whipping sand abated, and the chance for a firelight session presented itself.

As the fire banished desert darkness, haunting African voices, Moroccan djembe double drums and rattly castanets filled the empty soundscape with synesthetic colour.

We listened, we sang along, we celebrated the ineffable experience of a Saharan desert night hundreds of thousands miles from home.


#Morocco #sahara #desert #travel #sanddunes #sand #dunes #night #music #ergchebbie #jamming

I’ve been privileged to experience some extraordinary places, however the Moroccan Sahara on the Algerian border not only took my breath away with its stunning sandscapes but also left me in awe and wonder at the people who live here in such an inhospitable yet beautiful place.

We arrived here to Erg Chebbi and into a mild sandstorm just before sunset which created an otherworldly feel to this already extraordinary place. At least one camera did not survive the sunset with windblown sand doing its worst.

As the evening progressed the wind dropped and the desert became dreamy and almost welcoming.


#Morocco #sahara #desert #travel #sanddunes #sand #dunes #sunset #sandstorm #landscape #sandscape #ergchebbie

Camels, ships of the desert, were once the only way to traverse the vast desert regions south of the Altas mountains. They were built robust, reliable and dependable with enormous range and great fuel economy. They were also smelly and bad tempered but that was a small price to pay for their great value.

There are camels still used in the old traditions however the real ship of the desert now is the Toyota LandCruiser. They too are built robust, reliable and dependable with enormous range. Fuel economy is poor and their impact on the environment not good but that’s a small price to pay for dust free comfort, great suspension, air-conditioning and streaming Spotify.


#Morocco #sahara #desert #merzouga #4wd #sand #dunes #toyota #landcrusier

Almost every parent has mastered the art of flying spoon food delivery into a reluctant infant’s mouth. I’m almost certain that that flying spoon never contained leafy greens or blanched vegetables! As for raw, well, you’d have worn it for sure!

This little chick was totally happy to eat tiny pieces of a succulent plant that mum was collecting nearby. I am sure she was getting a little meat on the side but as for eating her greens, she was the perfect role model.


#ornithology #feeding #birds #morocco #travel #nurture #nature

It was both lovely and humbling spending time amid the Amazigh people of Zaouiat Ahansa. This is a place where motorised vehicles were absent, where people commuted by foot and donkeys carried goods, firewood and people. A rare extravagance might even be a rider on horseback.

When I say, “amid the Amazigh”, I do not mean in any interactive way. They were both polite and shy and seemed to flow around us going about their business as if we were not even there while the High Atlas mountain grades did not seem to bother man nor beast.

Alas we had to move on but the idea of lingering here for weeks or even months had a delightful, almost whimsical charm I will miss.


#morocco #ZaouiatAhansa #highatlas #mountains #donkeys #amazigh #rural #village #blackandwhite

We spent a couple of days exploring Zaouiat Ahansa and witnessed some of the most beautiful expressions of people and place.

Early one morning out walking I noticed small groups of boys and men wielding shovels, carrying buckets or pushing wheelbarrows all heading in the same direction. I thought it a little unusual but did not think I’d discover any reason why.

Later in the morning I walked back in the same direction and came across a frenzy of boys and men and shovels and buckets and concrete all working in close quarters on this house together. Somehow in this chaos, a house was being built, everyone seemed happy in their work and no one was getting hurt doing it.

The scene was so unexpected and so surprising and so delightful. Yet another reason why I love Morocco.


#Morocco #ZaouiatAhansa #highatlas #mountains #construction #teams #manpower #manuallabor #building #blackandwhite

Sunshine, Shadows and Shirts

Here in the High Atlas mountain village of Zaouiat Ahansal we explored the deep valley and gazed in awe upon the high desert peaks.

There were no tourists here and we felt like strangers in a strange land. Children scrabbled for attention, young men smiled and old men kept poker faces. The women kept to themselves. Regardless I felt welcome provided I showed deference and respect.

I so wanted to ask this old man about his amazing shirt while the young fella just laughed.

That’s why I love Morocco.


#Morocco #highatlas #mountains #zaouiat #travel #colour #donkey

Bathing Under the Ouzoud Falls

Despite the steep and hot walk down to the base of Ouzoud Falls, the colour of the water did not seem that inviting, still I would have been in there in a shot if we more time here.

I watched these two you men enjoy the sunshine, and the water and the constant mist spray of the falls and wished I was in there with them.


#morocco #travel #highatlas #mountains #swimming #water #waterfalls #ouzoudfalls

Escaping the craziness of Marrakech the High Atlas mountains were like travelling to another planet. At first they reminded me of the Norther Flinders Ranges in South Australia but the more I noticed, the uniqueness of these mountains became more and more obvious.

The High Atlas mountains contain Northern Africa’s highest peak, Toubkal, at 4167m and our highest mountain pass was 2260m, about 32m higher that Australia’s tallest peak of Mount Kosciuszko. It is hard to capture the vastness of these desert mountains. You really have to see them for yourself to feel their immensity.


#blackandwhite #morocco #travel #highatlas #mountains #monochrome

Gold and silver and jewels and more silver and more jewels. The markets in the old Medina cater for every taste and every whim.

After a while a stroll becomes monotonous. The same pots, the same rugs, the same shoes, the same trinkets. There is something comforting in sameness, in monotony. Perhaps abundance or lack of scarcity creates a comfort even if it’s an illusion.

Still it’s nice to re-frame, and look again through the eye of a wide open lens.


#colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #jewellery #bokeh #abstract

Cats, cats everywhere. There were blacks ones and white ones and ones with a little yellow on them and they all looked like they owned the place and they all seemed just the same.

None seemed to be owned by anyone yet they all appeared to be looked after by the locals. During my exploration of the old Medina I found little bowls of food and water in tucked away nooks.

One thing I did note however is that none of these stray cats had morphed into the oversize wildlife killers we see in Australian strays. I guess there’s not much wildlife in Marrakesh if you don’t include the tourists.

I did find it a little strange to find cats here and not dogs but I guess it makes sense. Cats are both bold and polite and integrate seamlessly in the bustle of Marrakech life.


#colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #cats #animals #street

An early morning walk through the Medina revealed a very different but strangely familiar city.

The hawkers had not yet opened their doors or arrived to set up for the day. Some litter lay around but surprisingly little. What I did not expect was that familiar sight of graffiti on walls.

I wonder if I might find graffiti in every city of the world and from now on will go looking for it in places I would never have thought.

Perhaps graffiti is the universal art of cities. Time and travel will tell.


#colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #graffiti #art #streetart

In Marrakech a community baker is at work. Here local families bring their freshly leavened loaves to be baked. One man is responsible for the entire day’s baking and he has to get every one of those loaves perfect.

To say more about this Moroccan tradition I would only be paraphrasing so here is a link that has more about this wonderful community aspect of Moroccan traditional life.

https://www.citynibbler.com/home/2019/2/20/communal-ovens-morocco


#colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #bread #baking #community #culture

In the alleyways of the medina can be found any number of souvenir trinket shops to lure the visitor into parting with their tourist dollar for some Moroccan treasure. Unfortunately the goods that might actually be useful tend to be too hard to pack or made from materials that Australian customs would frown upon.

These beautiful incense burners might have just made the grade and presented such a stunning visual display that I decided to bring them all home with me … in my camera.


#colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #trinkets #incenseburners

The alleyways of the Marrakech Medina are not for the distracted or those slow to react. One moment you’re sharing the cobblestones with locals strolling about their business or travellers exploring the town. The next moment you have some local Moroccan lads bearing down upon you on a tricycle hosting a couple of French tourists.

Motorbikes, tricycles and scooters vi for access with donkeys, hand drawn carts and people. No matter how quiet you think the moment is you will always be surprised by what comes around the next corner.


#colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #tricycle #fun

The Marrakech Medina was insane. A madding chaotic mix of tradition, tourism, markets, hawking and seeming managed confusion.
Initially I found my senses quite overwhelmed. I wanted to capture everything but everything was too big, too fast, too busy, too smelly and too colourful and it took spending time with a guide to begin making any sense of it all.
After a while it became clear this was a place of protocols and rules, a place of bending rules when they needed bending and being told one one thing while observing another. There was nothing black and white here! When asked about these indiscretions of form our guide Abdul simply laughed and said, “and that’s why we love Morocco”.
Just like the amazing colours of the spices in the markets of Tinsmith Square, black and white will never do.


#Spice #markets #colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #food

3 weeks ago I was in Morocco and experienced first hand the devastating earthquake that took thousands of lives. Since returning I have found it difficult to work on my images and uncomfortable to talk about my trip. This is my first posted image.

A birds eye view of this Marrakech riad’s courtyard reveals a colourful living space completely open to the sky above. What happens when it rains I asked? It gets wet was the answer! Who would have thought.

I would so love to see this space at night lit by a full moon. Perhaps the day, I dream of returning.

#courtyard #fisheye #marrakech #morocco #riad #travel #wideangle

I captured this image on my way home yesterday during the last minutes of civil twilight where the lingering colours of sunset blend with the emerging lights of Adelaide’s north-western suburbs.

Here, the northern terminus of South Road ends in a spectacular set of loops feeding the Salisbury Highway to the east, the Port River Expressway to the west, and the Northern Expressway in the direction you might have already guessed.

Like riding some fantastic Scalextric set I find myself regularly enjoying those sweeping curves at speed (under the limit of course) and enjoying the surrounding landscape.

I really like the integration into the Gilman, Wingfield and Magazine Creek wetlands. I wonder though if the effort to restore those natural resources would have taken place if not for a major infrastructure project bringing them them to attention.

Yet again I am so fortunate to make more of my daily commute than just another drive home from the office.


#aerial #expressway #roads #twilight #sunset #wingfield #gilman #commute #scalextric #welands #adelaide #southaustralia

Every diver who has spent any time under the Rapid Bay Jetty’s ‘T-Section’, or lately as I’ve heard it called, ‘The Aquarium’, will recognise this spot.

And almost always perched at the top if this broken piece of pylon will be a magpie perch. You could be forgiven thinking it’s the same magpie perch every time.

This spot is a cleaning station and magpie perch wait their turn to sit here and have tiny little wrasse cleaner fish scour their bodies for parasites. The tiny ones even swim in via the mouth and out via the gills cleaning anything inside as well.

When the jobs done this guy will swim off only to be replaced with the next in line. When another magpie will be perched.


#Pseudogoniistiusnigripes #magpieperch #rapidbay #jetty #southaustralia #scuba #diving #sealife #critters

Lady in red, she’s dancing with me beneath the waves, on the dance floor of the sea.

Our giant cuttlefish are beautiful, gentle and curious creatures. When diving with them you never know how an encounter will go. Sometimes they retreat under a ledge or into some hideaway. Sometimes they linger just out of reach. Sometimes you will be completely ignored and other times they will play and interact in the most amazing of ways.

I have had them try to pull off my mask, or breath through my regulator. On one occasion I am convinced I was challenged to dual of rock-paper-scissors. The cuttlefish won!

On this dive in the shadow of Rapid Bay Jetty, this lady in red just wanted to dance with me.


#Sepiaapama #giantcuttlefish #cuttlefish #mollusc #rapidbay #jetty #southaustralia #scuba #diving #sealife #critters

The unmistakable effect of ‘shallow depth of field’ can bring the most mundane scene into dramatic relief.

Looking around at the world, our eyes and our brains remove this effect and in our minds we imagine we see everything in sharp detail. Nothing could be further from reality.

The uncomplicated view of a camera and lens, laying in the grass with daisies, brings to life the beauty and the drama of even the simplest scene.


#Daisies #heather #grass #nature #bokeh #depthoffield #dof

This gal does not miss a trick. She’s on to me.

She knows I am likely to dislodge a rock accidentally with my fin. Or perhaps I’ll peer under a bit of fallen debris. Either event might deliver some poor morsel into view and unwittingly I'll have delivered dinner.

Wavy grubfish are masters of this game and divers attract their attention like a grumbling stomachs to a free lunch.

This gal’s not missing a trick and I’m sure she’ll be sated by the time I move on.


#critters #fish #macro #marinelife #parapercishaackei #jetty #edithburgh #southaustralia #wavygrubfish #scuba #diving #southaustralia

Twenty meters down colours are not what you’d think they might be. Reds are the first to leave followed by orange, then yellow and finally green.

The world down here amid the broken bones of the Clan Ranald wreck is blue and grey and shadow. A fantastic monochrome world of detail, texture and landscape.

Shine a bright light on coral or sponge or on curious school of bullseyes and moments of red, orange, yellow and green remind that there is so much colour down here, just hidden.

Take out even the blue and this imposing gorganian coral is just as beautiful in monochrome as the deep red it hides from the world.


#Balckandwhite #clanranald #wreck #scuba #diving #southaustralia #bullseyes #diver #gorgonia #coral #monochrome