Aaron Paul Vogel

#1. Traveling is Best Done With People. As much as I enjoy the tranquility of being in a secluded place completely removed from civilization, having at least one or two traveling companions not only makes for safer exploration, but also ensures subjects for your photos. This, oddly enough, goes against one of my personal rules of photography: don't mix friends and work. I've muffed too many shots because I had friends around to deal with. I think the key in this situation, however, is for the traveling companion to know exactly what they're in for from the beginning: lots of stopping, going back, doing it again, etc... in order to get a shot.

#2. Persistence Pays Off. I was getting worried about getting into some of the back-country canyons. No one was calling me back, and from my research it was clear that I definitely couldn't be going at it alone. It seems that anything off the map isn't going to be found by luck, or by asking around. And I'm not experienced enough yet to find stuff any other way.

#3. There's No Such Thing as Unlimited Visibility. You may be able to see those mountains or natural wonders 30 miles away, but that doesn't mean they're going to expose well. I've found that I can get to some incredible vistas, but take a picture? Nope. First off, how do you decided between using a 14mm to show the expansiveness of the view - only to minimize anything farther than 20' away - or using a 70mm to focus in on one part of the view - only to love the expansiveness and have atmosphere totally flatten your exposure and contrast. It seems the best thing to do is get close to a feature, use a 35mm and make sure the background is expansive or interesting.

#4. Don't be in a Hurry. The things you're photographing will be there for a while, especially if you're photographing rocks. Triple check your gear, bring water, bring extra battery.

#5. Take Advantage of Mid-Day Light. Put the camera gear away, plan your next moves and enjoy yourself! You're traveling!

Miles: 800 and some odd including food detours
Hours: around 13
Cops seen: 19 (that's one every 42 miles!)
Fast food eaten: 2 chicken sandwiches
Coffees: 2
Energy drinks: 4
Potty breaks: 6
Gallons of gas: about 40

My "Photographer's Notebook" has been languish pretty much from the start, but I figured I'd drop this in there just because it actually fits. Now I'm not one to do a lot of pre-planning - a shortcoming I'm working hard to overcome - but I knew I'd need to in order to re-shoot my Portal Trail Tent shot from my last trip to Moab. With a fresh plan I set out to try some test shots first. This is one I did to test the flash setup. So here's the info:

1. Moonless sky (too much light pollution on the ground and in the sky). This means a post moon-set shot, In my case, 1 a.m. or later, or a new moon, which is far less accommodating than my personal schedule.
2. Cloudless sky (so I can get the stars). This is actually what kept me from doing the shot last night, kind of glad for that though... hope it stays clear tonight.
3. Flash settings: 1/8 power, 28mm zoom, fresh batteries and a stofen
4. Camera settings: ISO 100, f/5.6, 1 minute (to start, the length of the exposure isn't for the purpose of letting light in at this point, it's just to get the star trails).
5. Light Painting: I think that one or two passes with the spotlight should do as I'll be much closer than 40' to where the tent will be. I'm going to try various means of diffusion/direction to get the right feel.

Guess I'll wait to get a hair cut.. What's that?... Oh Berbers? Gotcha.

Well, I guess I'll get that hair cut after all then. And while I'm sitting in the chair I'll do some more reading on the country recently featured in Brad Pitt's latest flick, Morocco, because that's where I've landed an independent study gig this coming January! Well by buddy Jospeh "Alk" Hollak has announced my travels on his blog, so I guess I'll put up some details lest I disappoint those who actually followed his link here.

Details...

First, a little about the assignment. It's actually an independent study that I built around an assignment one of my instructors, Rick Ray, brought to me looking for people to fill. Ray has his hands in a bunch of different endeavors, not the least of which is producing documentary/travel films about the Middle East and Far East countries so many of us know so little about. Perhaps his best known film is The Soul of India which has been lauded as the definitive film on the country; so much so that the current President himself is said to have watched it on Air Force One before he visited the country.

Ray came to me asking if I knew anyone who'd be interested in shooting similar video for a similar project he's started about Morocco. He seemed to want someone who'd recently graduated or would be soon. My immediate thought of course was myself, but I told him I'd think about it. I did, and I also checked my schedule to see what the next few months held for me. A few days later I called him back and said that I'd love to do it for him. We had a few more conversations - during which he seemed to be holding back, still hoping to work with someone more in need of a job (my inference, not his words) - and to make a long story short I finally kind of pushed him into agreeing to let me do it as an independent study next session. I think ultimately this works out well for both of us and he seems genuinely pleased with the choice, so I don't feel bad about kind of steamrolling him... I prefer to call it aggressive business negotiations. Grin.

So that brings us up to the present, in which I'm researching the country - something I'll be doing for the next few weeks during winter break - and studying the photographs that have already been taken in the area. I'll mostly be traveling the coastline of the country from Casablanca to Tangiers, east towards Algeria, then down to Marrakech, the southern areas before the Sahara, then back to Casablanca. I'm expecting to spend 3-6 weeks there depending on how far I cans stretch the very tiny budget I've been given to work in.

I'll be keeping a DSLR on me the whole time and taking photos when opportunity presents. The video is of course my primary concern and the photos will come secondary. I'll also be keeping my GPS close at hand to mark places I like for visit at a later time if I don't get exactly what I want right at that moment. Technology... love it. Oh yeah, and I'm doing all the shooting in HDV, with the equipment Ray provides me.

So there are the details I have to share. Part of the deal to make an independent study is that I have to keep a journal of everything I learn each week. So you can bet your boots I'll be blogging the whole trip. Whether or not I have constant internet access is up in the air, especially when I'm in the eastern part of the country, so updates might be on a weekly basis. But check back and I'll have a whole special category of posts called Morocco for you to keep up with.
If you should know anyone in Morocco, or who's traveled there in the past I'd love to hear their experiences and their takes on the country!

Note to self (and anyone who flies):

US Airways over books their flights and if you just happen to be one of the last 6 people in line even if you have a confirmed seat (but not through US Airways, like you got the ticket on Orbitz or something) you're probably not getting on the plane. And god forbid this happens on a holiday weekend because you're gonna have a helluva time getting another flight. That's the situation I find myself in at the moment. My mother had ordered my ticket home through the US Airways website and I had a confirmed seat. I got to the ticket counter about 20 minutes before the scheduled departure time (something I do all the time when I fly out of Santa Barbara) only to find two other people at the counter with the clerks trying to find them different flights; one to Finland and one to somewhere out east. After about an hour of waiting while the clerks sorted out how they were going to get these two guys to their respective destinations a third clerk showed up and started working on my schedule. To their credit they were ready to put us on pretty much any seat on any airline. Sadly EVERYTHING was full until tomorrow. So now I'm waiting for a ride home with a flight "confirmed" for tomorrow and a travel voucher I'll never use because there is no way in hell I'll ever fly this airline again!

ADDENDUM: So Condé Nast Traveler has an article about this very issue in their December 2006 issue. Long and short of it is this: all the airlines do this to some extent. The best solution is just to be on time and get a boarding pass as quickly as possible (online the night before if possible). If thou are bumped insist on cash or check, not a travel voucher because as CNT says, "cash doesn't have blackout dates." all this comes too late for me, but you can bet that I'll be checking each airline's policies before I travel again so that, god forbid this happens again, I'll have the upper hand in getting everything I can out of the overbooking bastards. Or maybe I'll just take the train.

There's also good advise for those inclined to voluntarily give up a seat: demand cash or check, ask for a first-class upgrade and anything else they'll give you. Airline clerks are allowed to do pretty much anything to get a flight out on time so push them to get the best deal for yourself.

I love technology!

During my last traveling excursion in Moab, Utah, I bought a Garmin Legend CX in the hopes that it would help me stay found while 4x4'ing as well as keep track of the many bicycle paths I hoped to ride then and in the future. Until recently I could only look at my lovely tracks and waypoints on the device itself. Garmin still remains rather un-supportive of OS X users like myself, in as much as all the mapping software they have available for the Windows arena are not available to OS X users. They've been working on changing that, but so far the only progress is that their Garmin Training Center software is now OS X compatible. This is little help to most people, particularly ones like me with a general mapping device, not a trainer.

Enter Google Earth Plus.

"You can plan a pretty picnic but you can't predict the weather" - Oukcast, Mrs. Jackson

I haven't been having a lot of luck with air travel lately. After the Christmas-time debacle flying US Airways I was ready to swear off planes for good. Unfortunately you can't get to Morocco via the rails. I figured I'd have a good experience flying American Airlines and British Airways, and I'm confident still that I will, but even the most reputable carriers are still subject to the whims of Mother Nature.

Never in my fair share of travels have I seen anyone get airsick before. But during and after our repeated circling and two attempts at landing at London Heathrow, with winds gusting above the airplane's "safe" limit for landing of 55+ mph, I lost count of how many people lost their lunch.

We ultimately diverted to Glasgow and I'm still nauseous as we sit at the gate waiting to find out our fate; whether we'll attempt another vomit-indusing go at London, or just deplane and sort things out from here. I'd planned to be halfway to Casablanca by now, but as Andre 3000 and Big Boi say, you can't predict the weather.

By the way, I'll be back-dating these posts to reflect when I actually wrote the down in my little moleskin so readers can get a better idea of the timeline, rather than have the posts dated when I actually got them online.

It can probably be assumed from my last entry that I missed my connecting flight to Casablanca. It is, perhaps, the best thing that could have happened. I know for American's that may sound like insanity as the idea of missing a flight brings to mind gruff airline personnel and long nights sleeping on a bench of uncomfortable chairs, but let me explain.

European air travel is such an amazingly different beast than its American counterpart. Upon arrival at Heathrow I made my way to the American Airlines check-in desk to see what could be done about getting another flight. As there is only one direct flight per day and only another indirect flight in the morning I was stuck overnight. Now here's where the differences come in. Without me saying more than a word to indicate I wanted the direct flight the very pleasant woman behind the counter booked me on the next day's flight, gave me bus coupons to take me to the hotel that she had already booked me in. I also got dinner and breakfast vouchers for what turned out to be wonderful meals at the hotel's restaurant.

This would have all been a real shock had I not recently read an article in Conde Naste Traveler magazine which outlined the rules governing airlines' responsibilities in Europe when situations like this arise. I was, of course, pleased at the treatment but also amazed that more of a row hasn't been raised over the complete lack of regulations like this in America. I guess it is yet another example of how Big Business is really running the show in government for us. It's even more surprising when you think of all the bail-out money the government has thrown a the airlines. Shouldn't we, the American taxpayer who's money is being used for the bail-outs, be treated better by these companies? I for one think so.

In the end, like I said, this was probably the best thing that could have happened (minus loosing a good day of shooting in Casablanca) as I've had a chance to recover from the trans-Atlantic flight, clean up any little things I left unfinished at home (well, what I can via email anyway) and start to transition into the life of a traveler.

Here's where I'm at now: Premier Travel Inn, Middlesex, England (opens in Google Earth - download if you don't have it!)

I'm now officially sick of London Heathrow airport... one more hour 'til my flight.

What a freaking mess...

Lost luggage, no car, a credit card doesn't work... The travel school of hard knocks is in session. First, the luggage. Thank god it's only my clothes and what not, not any shooting equipment, but it's a major pain in the ass anyway. I don't feel like I can move on from Casablanca until I get my stuff, and I know that could be a while. Hopefully I'll find a decent hotel that I can make day trips up to Rabat and down to Essouaria in the mean time. The lesson: carry on as many critical items as you can. As for how to not loose luggage, I have no idea. I'm 1-3 for the last year, having luggage delayed on my last two trips, but for the life of me I can't figure out what I could have done to avoid either instance.

I also still have to get a car. I had to take a taxi from the airport to a hotel last night because my two credit cards wouldn't go through for the $1000 charge for a rental car. I was stoked at first because I thought I was going to get a good deal on the car rental at just under $1000 including tax for a month of car rental. Hopefully now that i have one of the cards working I can get back to the airport and get that car now. The lesson: make sure you call your banks to let them know you'll be using the cards out of the country or else the fraud protection will kick in.And... sometimes getting a deal on the spot isn't as nice as having your affairs in order before you get somewhere.

Oh, and one more lesson: make sure you have the right wattage voltage converter and/or the right style plug converter. I fried my 50W 220V -> 110V converter because the laptop's power brick is 65W... oops. Fortunately the brick is also 220V compatible, so it runs just fine with a regular plug adapter. Sheesh.

Sorry, I didn't post up my locations the last two days. Here are the two hotels I've stayed at so far: Hotel Hyatt Regency and Hotel Toubkal (which is the one I'm staying at tonight).

Some of the mess got cleaned up. But it didn't include this town. This place is filthy. Not Iraq filthy, but it definitely makes my list of dirty towns. So I got a car, still don't have my luggage, and I did manage to get a SIM card for my cell phone. It's working now though the battery is low and the USB charging doesn't seem to work. Of course they don't have Blackberries here so I'll have to look around some to find a car charger that will work. I've walked around some and figured out what I want to shoot tomorrow. Didn't manage to do any of that today. I'll probably be heading out tonight to see about shooting some stuff. I'm going to try avoiding driving around any more. Most of the stuff is within some kind of walking distance. Oh yeah, and I got conned already. Only for 200dh, but that's like $25, so I'm pissed at myself. I'm not going to divulge the details 'cause I feel like enough of an idiot already, just thought I'd share that much and leave it at that. I did realize one thing, and it's probably better it happened sooner rather than later: no one here is your friend. Yeah, Rick, I know you told me... Oh halleluia! I just called and my bag is found.. good thing they update their site [rolls eyes].

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS! Even if you're just checking in, I'd like to know that I'm not just doing this for myself... :D smiles!

This is definitely a walking city. The traffic pace is just too frantic to keep up with, let alone get a feel for the city and what's going on inside it. This place seems like the New York City of Morocco; lots of people, lots of different areas and too much to get your head around at once. It's a dirty city, much like NYC, and there's construction going on everywhere. I've run into the language barrier head first, but the little bit of Arabic and French I know is helping some, as is the pocket Arabic phrase book I bought. It's 0330 here now (3:30 a.m.) and I'm still up 'cause I took a serious nap too late in the afternoon after I got done walking around.

Now that I got almost every travel related issue settled - though I'm still having cell phone issues. Seems the 50dh SIM card I bought just doesn't last long enough for a decent conversation - I'm getting to the business of shooting. I spent a few hours at the Hassan II Mosque filming the building and the tourist groups. I'll be going back to get a few more shots tomorrow morning. After that I picked an area in the west side of the city that seemed fairly open and interesting and walked around for a couple more hours. I found some good shooting spots, and even found a really cute situation where children would pay a couple of guys to push them for a few minutes on a swing set (see gallery of shots by clicking the photo). It just happened to be in a straight line of sight with the Hassan II Mosque.

After that I knew I'd have to stay another night or two, so I checked back into the Hotel Toubkal to have a home base. It's also right across the street from the old Medina which is my next object of interest for shooting. I walked around a little bit but I was so exhausted from being in the sun and walking around with what has to be about 50lbs of gear on my back. The Medina will be interesting tomorrow.. gonna be a challenge to work with so many people crowding around.

Here's some links to the two Google Earth tracks of my wandering: Morning and Afternoon.

Time for bed...

So I've decided to forgo any more shooting in Casablanca until I either get a fixer or find someone from CouchSurfing.com to help me out, 'cause I just can't take that city any more. I drove to Rabat this morning to meet up with Salim, my first CS friend. This guy is really nice. I was worried that he'd be all mellow and.. well.. old.. 'cause that's the way he sounded on the phone. Oh yeah, I decided to bite the bullet and just go w/ T-mobile's international roaming service on my phone. It's ridiculously expensive, but hell, it works and I don't have to worry about getting cut off mid sentence because my prepaid SIM card ran out. And really at $6 for like 4 minutes of talking the SIM card wasn't much better. I know that a telebutique with a calling card would be cheaper than both, but really it's about convenience, and at this point I'll pay for that.

Anyway, phone rant over with, I'm really pleased with my first CS experience and with Rabat. The town is smaller than Casablanca, by a bit, but it no less haphazardly put together. I met Salim at the central train station and then followed him to his house so I could safely ditch the car. We went to lunch and now we're at his office. He's a promotions manager for a club he and his friends own, so fortunately he has a lot of free time during the day. He's going to give me a key to his place none the less so I can come and go as I please, which is nice. He's not exactly walking distance from the city center, but I know there's a good pay-to-park lot right by the train station, so I'll probably just be driving in and leaving the car there, then walking around.

I found out a few interesting things from Salim already. Like the reason why the town of Rabat doesn't get very detailed in Google Earth is that the Royal Palace is here, and I guess there was an attack on Hassan II back in the 1970's, so Morocco wouldn't give Google permission to show a detailed map of the town. Also, there's been a bit of a drought the last year, so all the water fountains are turned off. Kind of a bummer because they look like they'd be cool if they were on.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to having a place to drop my car and my stuff and just take the essentials when I go out shooting; it's hard living out of a car when you feel like you can't safely leave anything of value inside it when you park somewhere.. freakin' Casablanca. I don't have my USB cable with me right now, so I can't upload the waypoints for Salim's place, the train station or the restaurant, but hopefully I'll be able to swing back by here to use the internet again soon.

And don't worry Rick, I'm planning to spend a solid two days in Casablanca at the tail end of the trip, so I'll get the train station sign, the traffic, the port, the parks, maybe the racetrack, and whatever else that dirty, mean city has to offer. I just had to get out of there and get into a good place.

Well, it's been an interesting time in Rabat. The weather seems to be against me on this trip, and after 2 of 3 days with rain, with another wet day predicted tomorrow I'm in the position of deciding whether to chase the sun down south (Tanger is wet as well, so it would be pointless to move there) or to stay put and loose another day to the weather. My instinct is to stay put and wait it out, taking the extra time to find the best spots and maybe do some shooting of the rain and its effect on a country that's been in drought for a year. Besides that, just the drive to the south areas I want to cover - Essouiara (I think I spell that differently every time I write it), Agadir, Taroudannt, etc - will take the better part of a day anyway.

I did manage to get some shooting done yesterday in the afternoon including quite a bit of the kasbah and a little of the shops in the medina. This is a much more laid-back town than Casabalnca (or Casa as people in Morocco call it) and the medina shops are much more relaxing to wander around in as not a single shop keeper is the stereotypical used car salesman you find in Casa, Fes and Meknes; a fact I'm hoping to show in my footage. I was painfully close to getting good light on the kasbah exterior this morning, shooting from Salé across the river, but the clouds just never let the sun come out enough to light up the kasbah. So I'll try again tomorrow, if the clouds break tonight. On the upside I have an girl I met through couchsurfing.com that I'll be interviewing about a number of things tonight, so I'll get some work done.

I realized something about my previous problems with learning a language state-side: it's kitsch. Any language - French, Italian, German, Russain, Arabic - is so quaint and cute to Americans. We've borrowed so many catch phrases from other languages that it's difficult to see the words and sounds in their proper place as a way of communicating ideas; the same as English words. Being immersed in the language, having it spoken in conversation rather than read from a script, has made me realize that words have denotations and connotations and are part of life. They are one's ability to communicate with others. The sounds may be different, but what they mean is often the same. I've also decided that for now French is my language of interest.

Language lesson for the day:

Kaoua bel hleb

Arabic for for coffee with milk - like a latte

Chucolachu

French for bitter hot chocolate

Well, the shitty weather continues unabated. After a fairly successful day yesterday I was happy to join a few of the friends I've made here in Rabat for a trip to one of the local bars last night to relax and really enjoy myself without thinking of work for the first time. The bar was, I'm told, unique for Morocco. It was some kind of salsa bar with Latin/Reggae music being played by a live band. The majority of patrons were sub-Saharan Africa immigrants.

It seems that Moroccans are creatures of habit like so many of us. Salim informed me that many of them will have lived in a place like Rabat or Casablanca and never have ventured away from their only little area of it. They have a tendency to find the handful of stores, cafes, etc that they like and then never go anywhere else. They find people like themselves in social status, beliefs, or whatever and then settle in. I would imagine this tendency is even more pronounced in immigrants, which is why I could stop thinking while looking around the salsa bar what a great little story it would make to spend a month there.

The other interesting thing I was told at the bar last night is that Moroccans look down on the sub-Saharan immigrants as inferior, dumb, etc. I think this partly has to do with their very dark skin color as there is a general tendency in the area (I'm not sure how far this extends to the rest of the continent or Middle East) to see fairer skinned people as better and more beautiful. This was rather humorously displayed to me the last couple of nights watching television before bed in a commercial for a skin product that was supposed to lighten your skin color - though not permanently I'd imagine. I guess all of this just goes to show that everyone needs someone to look down on. I'm sure the sub-Saharans have their own group of people to look sideways at. Oddly enough about the Moroccans is that they're looked down upon by Middle Eastern Arabs in a similar way.

I also had a very interesting interview with a girl named Alia before going to the bar last night. It's a good thing too as I would have felt pretty unproductive otherwise. I met her through the web community CouchSurfing.com, which I've mentioned before, and then in person when she came over to Salim's place. She works for an organization here that helps educate the children involved in child labor. She's American, but has lived overseas in one place or another quite often. I got the run down on what she does as well as how it is to be a Western woman in Morocco. I have no idea if the child labor stuff will actually get used, but I figured better to have it and maybe use it later for another project than have the opportunity and not take it.

On a different note, I've been thinking a lot about my task at hand which is filming the "soul of Morocco" and I have to say I'm a little confounded. I need to figure out first what "soul" means. I've always seen the soul as something that exists but it never struck me as something I could define - "a soul is this..." or "a soul is that..." I guess the idea is that the soul drives your existence; it is the reason you do anything.

As I think more about it this question of what is a soul is bringing up more questions. Like, what makes a soul worth saving as so many religions purport to do? Is the answer somewhere in there. What makes anything worth saving?

If you guys have any thoughts I'd love to hear them. The answer I got back from Rick is this: "Soul is the mysterious mix of sights, sounds, smells, thoughts that make a place unique. You can't define it. You can only suggest it." So I guess that's a start.

I find myself at Hotel Ibis Moussafir (Google Earth link) in Tangier and I find that I'm watching City Slickers on MBC 2 because it's the only thing on in English. Billy Crustal. Funny.

So today was my first day in Tangier and I have to admit that I was a little worried about it from everything I'd read; muggings, pushy "guides", drug dealers and what not. But really the place is terrific. I spent the day wandering around finding everything, marking it (the GE link this time is a whole folder of stuff) and making plans to shoot. I feel like I'm starting to get in the groove. I've gotten a lot better at dealing with the people approaching me for dubious reasons and even with getting through the shops and cafes. One of the friends I made in Rabat, Alia Kate, lent me a Moroccan phrase book, so I'm going to take some time tonight and write down the key ones in my notebook.

I should probably back up and recap Rabat. Rabat is great. If you're ever in Morocco and want to visit medina shops that aren't packed with pushy salesmen and overbearing locals then Rabat is definitely the place. The kasbah is small but has a nice little garden, some cute alleys, a great overlook and an even better cafe both of which offer beautiful views of Salé. The unfinished mosque and mausoleum just outside of downtown is peaceful enough, though there don't seem to be as many parks as in Casablanca (though the ones there were fairly scuzzy). The shooting got more productive the second day I was there as well as yesterday before I left when I was approached by an unofficial guide at the mosque. At first I was fairly short with him, but he hung around - I guess because there aren't ANY other tourists around - and after a while he kind of grew on me. He wasn't pushy and he knew his shit so I offered him 150dh to stick around for the next three hours and help me out talking to people. He shooed away a security guard a the mausoleum when I told him I was a student (pro's need a permit) and was generally really helpful. At one point even carrying my tripod when I was hand-holding. He took me to some palace in the middle of the medina that was built in and full of classic Moroccan artistry. He also came with me to Oulja, in Salé, where there is a terrific artisan compound, made up mostly of pottery shops. They were closing up by the time we got there but the place had such potential that I had him arrange for me to come back the next day to film (see the pictures below). I figured I could use him to help me the next day so I arranged to meet him before going back to Oulja. It worked as I got to shoot and he talked to the people the whole time.

The drive to Tangier was great. I marked a couple spots along the way; places I'd like to explore more the next time I come, and hopefully have a fixer to travel with me as they're all certainly country and I've found that English isn't as widely spoken as I'd thought it might be, even small amounts. There's a cork farm which would be a terrific story to follow for a while. There were also a bunch of terrific looking little towns that would be fun to stop in. I'm hoping to stop in one called Boujaad where a friend of Alia's lives. She says the women in a village nearby weave rugs, which would be great footage if I can get it.

So now I'm in Tangier and I'm really happy about it. Like I said, I feel like I'm getting a grip on things and I'm actually enjoying myself; not getting stressed about the weather or what to shoot. Still could use a fixer here, but... can't have everything. So tomorrow I hope for sun, get up early and go back out on the streets to shoot the things I marked today. Enjoy the photos. I'm uploading via my cell phone which charges by the Kb, so no big images to save money. But I had to upload something. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be in a hotel with internet, or can find a cyber cafe to use for bigger images. Later!

Google Earth folder for my day: Tangier

Full-size photos now up at my Photoshelter account: Morocco Gallery

So tonight I'm staying at the Hotel la Dalwiz (look in the Tangier GE folder I linked to yesterday) and I'm very pleased with it. It's not the cheapest, but it has Wi-Fi (currently I can only get it to work in the lobby, but it's supposed to work all over the hotel) and is right in downtown, pretty much next to the medina. There's hot showers and the heater works (not the case at Hotel Ibis). I also have a balcony that looks over the town and into the ocean, though there isn't a great shot to be had unfortunately. It also smells of burning garbage, which can unfortunately be said for a majority of the country at any given time. It's funny because it brings me back to Iraq when that smell was even more pervasive.

The weather was good for the morning and I got some shots earlier but again things clouded over and everything was looking pretty blah. It's drizzling right now so I decided to head in and get some food, update the blog and do some emailing with the couch surfers I'm hoping to stay with later on. I'll probably move to the Hotel Continental or perhaps even one of the small inns alongside the Petit Socco for tomorrow night. One of them has a second story balcony that would be perfect for some inconspicuous filming of people walking along an alleyway. Good for at least a couple shots. Getting people walking is proving to be the most difficult. I've had a hard time not getting noticed and people tend to cover up or turn away or just generally stare at the camera in an angry way. Not good.

I gave a call to Rick Rickman who is technically my advisor for the independent study credit and talked to him briefly about his thoughts on getting the soul of a country. He said he'd check the blog and write his thoughts in more detail for me, but briefly he said that if you look at your pictures [video] and you feel what you feel when you were there then you've been successful. I think I'm getting that, but I should probably do a little review to make sure.

I'm tempted to venture out tonight, though I don't think I'll be taking the equipment as I fear I may be mugged for it. I'm a little nervous I'll be mugged regardless, but that's the fun of traveling to unknown parts, right? I'll leave the gadgets at home and only bring a few dirham so I won't loose much should that happen.

My schedule is all blown to hell and I'm cutting towns off the agenda left and right. I'd planned on 10 and should have been through 4 by now but I'm only up to 3, and I have to revisit at least Casablanca. I've been invited to stay at a small village called Boujad, south-east of Casablanca, but I'll have to see how it works into my schedule. It sounds like it would be a nice stop on the way to Ouarazazate for a night. We'll see. I feel like I could spend another month here and only begin to really do the place justice.

I had dinner at the hotel's restaurant, which is actually attached by only accessible from outside the building. The maitre d' noticed I spoke English and told me there were some other English speakers downstairs. I didn't realize he meant locals, but was soon introduced to a college student who worked at the soap store in the square below. Aziz turned out to be very pleasant company while I ate and afterwards I went down to see the store. Turns out the owner is a British ex-pat who moved to Tangier 2 years ago and has set up the soap and smelly things store to keep himself busy here. We spoke for a good while about things in general. Very nice fellow. I believe I'll stop in after breakfast and ask if he knows anyone who might be willing to accompany me around town as a fixer.

Casablanca, Rabat and Tangier - all the Moroccan cities I've visited so far - are, well, cities: they're dirty, fast paced and stocked full of characters of all kinds; most pleasant, some down right scoundrels. There are shops and cafes, parks, office buildings and monuments to both the old and the new. There are remnants of history, allusions to the future and the cold, hard concrete of the present.

I ventured out after dark for the second time tonight - my first on my own. Again I was hesitant, but I had to see for myself what all the noise around town was. It seems that the city comes alive at night even more so that it does during the 3-hour lunch break from noon - 3 p.m. with the cafes and restaurants full of people and the streets more busy than I've seen them yet. I walked through the medina - the Continental is 100 meters from the Petit Socco, and nearly a straight shot at that - up through the Grand Socco and finally to the European soap store, Naturally Gifted, where I'd last night met a Brit ex-pat named Irvin and his 24 year old Moraccan shop keeper Aziz. I was hoping they could help me find someone to act as fixer/company while I shoot tomorrow assuming the rain holds up. The weather finally broke this afternoon and I managed to get some shooting done, but I have a lot more to get tomorrow. I'll most likely be taking the ferry ride round trip on Wednesday and then heading out. Well Aziz wasn't there yet and Irvin couldn't think of anyone. I headed around the corner to a barber shop I'd been eyeing and found it with a line. I shook hands with the shop keeper, made a few hand gestures and was quickly shown to the barbers chair for a neck shave and a beard trimming. I'm so glad I didn't pack my own razor for this trip. It's made this little luxury (20dh for the shave, which is about $2.50!) so very easy to justify. I returned to the shop and Aziz came shortly. I ended up hanging out there for a good 3 hours shooting the breeze with Aziz, and then with the friends that trickled in one by one as the night drew on. There was a lovely girl who's name I promptly forgot, and a couple - Natasha, the Yugoslavian, and Yasine a Moroccan. Natasha and Yasine agreed to help me out for about 2 hours tomorrow. We'll be headed over to Cafe Halfa first, then hopefully to the medina to film some shops. Cafe culture here is huge, as I think I've alluded to before. And I think that if I can get enough people walking around, talking and having coffee the tapes will give a pretty clear picture of just how important street life and the cafes are here in Morocco.

I'm staying at my new favorite hotel in all of Morocco tonight (and probably tomorrow night too): the Hotel Continental. I'll give you the GE link (add it to the Tangier folder from the other day) and just let you read in the info (click on the map icon or right-click on the name in the sidebar). Later!

Short post today. It was sunny-ish for the first few hours today and I got some shooting done, but it quickly clouded over, the people thinned and it sprinkled. I made the most of the time and found the Cafe Halfa as well as scoped out the ferry situation down at the port. I didn't want to purchase a ticket not knowing the what the weather will be like tomorrow. The weather forecast said sun today, but look what happened. There's an early morning slow ship I can grab and then probably be back by early afternoon. I may just go up to this little point I found that offers a great view of the bay, city and boats coming in and shoot from there. But we'll see. I want to move on tomorrow night to Chefchaouen.

I had a little stomach trouble last night, though it seems to have been a one time thing. None the less I was a little more careful about what I ate today (I think it was the chicken I had for lunch yesterday, or maybe the salad and mayonnaise?). Right now I'm kicking back in the hotel with a package of 6 magdalenas (oh yeah, I'm gonna eat all 6 of 'em) and a small carton of some yogurt drink that I'm hoping will help keep the stomach monster away tonight.

I'm tempted to go out again tonight, but it's raining off and on and really there isn't anything for me out there right now. Just gonna hit the sack early and get up with the sun to see if I can get some morning shooting done. Stupid winter weather.

Speaking of smaller towns, I'm in Chefchaouen now after driving here this evening. I'm staying at the Hotel Madrid which, despite being even cheaper than the Hotel Continental - 270 dirhams a night! - still has en suite toilets, hot water showers (though the pressure is dubious) and decent beds. As you'll see on the track I link to below my journey around town to find the hotels took a couple of u-turns. As useful and interesting as the Rough Guide to Morocco book I have is, it is woefully lacking in the maps department. I managed to get in just fine, but not after some serious cursing of the map. Really all it would take is a little more clarity on where exactly one would normally make their way in. Perhaps I'll write them a note.

The photo above is of an aqueduct I saw from the road and decided to stop and eat my evening snack at. I'd stopped at the Marjane before leaving Tangier to pick up some more yogurt drink and some nibbles so I thought it would be a nice place to have a little picnic. I don't know if it's originally Roman or if it's newer, but I like the look of it and would think it'd be beautiful in the morning. Perhaps I'll swing back before I leave.

Anyway, here is the Google Earth link for my travels today: The Road to Chefchaouen. It's another GE folder with the route from Tangier to Chefchaouen and the pointer for the Hotel Madrid inside of it. Planning on an early start so I'm gonna hit the sack!

Well the weather today was about as good as I felt inside: miserable. I got another case of traveler's gut, but this one hit me pretty hard. It started off last night with a fever and the shivers. I hoped that I might be able to burn it off so I put on pretty much every piece of warm clothing I had. I don't know if it worked or not but the fever was pretty much gone by this morning. Now I'm just all achy and my insides are tied in knots. It hurts to put my head on the pill but I'm too tired to sit up. I'm staying at Pension La Castallena which is basically a hostel without the dorm-style rooms. My room is equal parts twin-size bed and floor. Really the only thing this place is good for is meeting nice people who are likely to speak your language. So far I've met a Brit named Paul and two women from Seattle named Jill and Catherine. There's also a couple of Canadians, a Dutchman, and some Lithuanians. Very interesting crowd. The girls from Seattle have been really kind in helping me out; getting me bottled water, giving me some Peptobismal and Advil. They've been sick with colds as well.

Yesterday's weather was not great but at least agreeable. There was a light over-cast that merely diffused the sun and put a slight chill in the air. Last night and then this morning things turned cold, dark and wet with a heavy fog and drenching rain. It might not have been so bad if there was any kind of heat in this place (not even a space heater like at the Continental) or if the building had a full roof. I didn't realize until this morning but the center area of the building around which all the rooms are placed is actually open-air. So the whole place is wet and damp as well. Not really that fun.

I did manage to get a good 20 minutes of tape yesterday but again I've run into issues with people being very camera shy. Still not sure what to do about it other than move on to the next shot.

Sorry, no GE links for you today. I'll post up something when I'm feeling better.

Never did I think I'd be so happy to see a pile of over-processed food products. I'm at the Ibis Hotel in Meknes, en route to... eh... somewhere warmer, and there's a McDonalds pretty much right next door. And based on my current intestinal situation I figured the more processed my food is the better. Of course I'd kill for a Nature Valley granola bar, or some peanut butter.

I have to head south to Ourzazate, Taroudannt, and Essouira before I head back up to Casablanca. Hopefully I'll have better luck with shooting there than I've had in the north. The weather is improving already even though I'm still in the Rif mountains.

Here's the GE file I promised: Chefchaouen. When you open it up just go ahead and click yes if it asks you to reload the file, you won't loose anything and the new stuff will show up.

I'm in Ourzazate tonight; got here this afternoon after leaving Tinghir at lunchtime. I spent the morning in Todra Gorge under the false impression that there were waterfalls just a little ways up it. Wrong. I'd met some very nice Welsh girls at the Hotel Les Gorges where I stayed last night and we got up early to hit the gorge for some hiking. They were pleased enough even though we quickly found out from a couple in a 4x4 that there were in fact no waterfalls, but I was pretty disappointed as I was hoping to get some film of it. It is, in fact, about two hours outside of Marrakesh, so there's probably not going to be any waterfall footage when I return.

But, we forged on and did some nice hiking. I found that the gorge and the river that was in it reminded me of the Colorado river near Moab, Utah. The rocks were all red/orange stone that chipped and flaked away the same as the red rock in Moab. And the the river, well the river was MUCH less dirty from sediment; it was actually incredibly clear and pristine, which is an amazing accomplishment in a country with garbage everywhere.

The girls were going to take the bus to Marrakesh - one of them flying from there, the other continuing on to Essouiria, but a little sick of traveling alone and really enjoying their company I offered to drive them instead. It was a funny little back and forth, with neither of them being very good at making decisions that day, but eventually they both agreed that it'd be yet another random diversion on a trip that'd been nothing but already. So off we headed to Ourzazate.

Tomorrow I'll be trying to shoot some footage of the movie studios - Atlas Studios - just outside of town, then we'll be headed on to Marrakesh and Essouiria. No Google Earth right now. I'll post it another time. it's nothing too exciting.

The updates have been slowing down because I haven't been doing much but a lot of driving. I finally found the sunshine - it's in Essouria - but it took me a good number of days getting from Chefchaouen to Tinghir to Ourzazate then finally to here. I stopped in Tinghir on the way thinking the Todra gorge has waterfalls; it doesn't. Then I stopped a day in Ourzazate to get the Atlas Studios there; which I did no thanks to some early morning rain. And finally I spent a REALLY long day - some 10 hours - getting from there to Essouria with a stop in Marrakech on the way for dinner and to drop of one of the Welsh girls that joined me in the drive. Here's the GE tracks I made across the country in one folder: The Atlas Trekk

But I'm here now, and staying at a wonderful hotel called the Residence Vent des Dunes (in the Essouria GE folder I have here). The room is quite large and even has 2 "couches" that are more like twin beds against the wall with pillows. It could very comfortably sleep 4. It has a wonderful en suite bathroom with a hot water shower (amazing what simple items become necessities) and it's quiet! It's 300dh a night, but well worth it. Besides, I've been staying in 50-70dh a night places the last week anyway, so I've scrounged enough to put myself up in a decent place for a few nights. It's 8.5dh = 1usd if you didn't know. So 600dh for two nights works out to $70, or $35 a night, including a small breakfast of coffee, juice, and breads. I've come to love crepes for breakfast and found a place in town that will do all of the above plus a crepe for 25dh ($3). There was a place in Chef that did the same for 15dh!

Food fun out of the way I did a good deal of walking around and thinking of the story of Essouria. There's a great deal here even though it really is a summer locale. The port is always busy and is the third major fishing port next to Agadir and Casablanca. There are some interesting ruins of old Portugese defensive fortes, though you're not really allowed to get very close to all but one as they're on islands just off-shore, one of which is a bird sanctuary. There's camel rides along the beach and the whole hippie, surfer, beach bum culture, though that's not in full swing right now. So I have a whole shot list of things to shoot. I took a few photos this evening though with my 50mm I'm very limited on my angles. I'm really missing the 16-35mm and I'll be sure to replace it as soon as I'm back state-side. Makes one think of buying overlapping lenses (like a nice 24mm L) to keep the loss of one from ruining a trip. Actually the best picture I took was for my father who is a Citroen junky. There is a 2CV - a particularly iconic Citroen - parked in front of the hotel, and in the evening light it looked really nice against the colorful buildings. So, here is to the right.

Well I've officially decided that I came at the wrong time of year to be doing this shooting. It was cloudy again for all but 1 hour today and I'm really sick of the ugly, flat, crappy scenery. The weekend has come and with it the weekend tourists. Mostly surfers I've seen so far, but a fair amount of caravaners and other miscellaneous characters. I did manage to get some of my shots from the shot list out of the way, but only a few in the short time I had.

Olives, olives, everywhere and not a drop to drink.

Okay so that's a horrible bastardization of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's line, but I thought it last night at dinner when the waiter brought out - as always - two small dishes of olives. The only olives I like are the ones drowning in a martini. Otherwise I can't stand them. In Morocco, however, they're considered standard appetizers and present at pretty much every meal. They go untouched at my table.

Finished up in Essouria. Well, as finished as I find I can get. I want to get sun bathers and surfers and hippies since that's the scene here. But all of the above are few and far between right now as it's the dead of winter. It's cold by beach standards and the surf is down pretty low. So, the surfers, beach bunnies and rasta's will have to come another time. I'm off to Casablanca again right after I post this, hoping for good weather the next two days.

I returned to Casablanca last night. I was disappointed to see nothing but flat grey this morning, but found the sky clearing towards noon, so I got out and did some of the clean-up shooting. I did some writing afterwards, at dinner:

Casablanca is the NYC of Morocco: it's dirty, bustling and everyone has an angle, especially on tourists. Besides the bustling part, I guess that could describe most of the country but Casablanca has it ten-fold. You can see it in people's eyes, in the way they look at each other. They don't even trust others, so I don't trust them either. The men look at women the way hyaenas look at the gazelle a lion just killed: showing obvious animalistic interest but knowing that without the proper distraction for the lion they'll never get more than scraps.

This is a place where the smoke of a cigarette and the steam of a cafe au lait mingle freely and frequently. It's ironic that this French influence is soon to be a French icon no more. I think that the time period between now and when Morocco forbids smoking in cafes will gauge fairly accurately how far behind their European influences this country is. My guess is a generation or two. Greater literacy, employment and a more prominent political place on the world stage are necessary before small social changes like banning smoking in public places will occur. So, for a while at least, smoke and coffee will share tabletops freely.

I've decided that oil companies are like horny little middle school boys trying to get their sweaty hands up our financial skirts. They keep raising the prices until there's enough public outcry to be a problem, then drop them a little until we stop protesting. Then after a while they try again and get a little farther, then we push their hand away and they move it back, but just to our thigh... If this keeps up our wallets are gonna get date-raped.

“Do you have a video camera?” I asked him.

He said he did.

“Do you have FCP and a laptop?” I said.

He said he did.

Then, echoing the very good advice Peter Matthiessen gave me more than a quarter century ago, I told him, “then go get your camera, get your laptop and start making stuff. Post it on Youtube, Current or your own website. Just start making stuff.”

It is 1 a.m. PST and I'm sitting on a saddle near Hines Peak, the tallest point anywhere near Ventura. At only around 6500' it is no where near the monumental size of other California peaks such as Mt. Whitney. However, as it is viewable from nearly everywhere around it is a local monument, and an accessable one at that.

I made the trip up here this evening - a half hour 4x4 drive and a 2 mile hike - with a recently renewed friend, and fellow Nature Photography class student, LeAnne Snyder. We're working on taking long exposure night photographs as well as enjoying the amazing scene.

I figured I'd take this moment as Leanne continues to work to post a little update. I'll post tonights photos later tomorrow along with some I took during our class' trip to Big Sur last week.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

I'm waiting for general boarding to be called for the Island Adventure boat which will be taking me to Santa Cruz Island this morning. I'm spending the next four days on the island to start my editorial photo story about recreation at Channel Islands National Park.

Backpacker magazine called it one of the most peaceful places to backpack. Or some superlative like that. They must have gone in the winter sometime as the spring season seems to be infested by boats worth of elementary school children. Of course parks are for everyone's enjoyment, and I would never begrudge children the chance to experience the great outdoors. I'm expecting they'll disappear for good with the boat this afternoon, but they do make for a less than serene morning.

Santa Cruz is the largest of the islands, and I'll be hard pressed to cover the 16-some miles between the Scorpion landing and Prisoners Harbor, where I'll get picked up for the return trip, which is only about a quarter of the overall island; the rest being Nature Conservancy land.

I'll be back with photos on Sunday night. Until then, bon voyage!

The day started with low expectations. More than an hour on a cold, windy boat with a school bus' worth of middle schoolers is not the way to get in the mood for and outdoors experience.. or perhaps its the perfect way. none the less, the island has already enchanted me. I haven't even started my hiking tour of the east part of the island and I'm already planning a trip back.

Things I've learned, reaffirmed or should have learned before but screwed up again none the less:

1. Powdered egg whites don't make scrambled eggs by adding water, they just make an inedible gooey mess.
2. Camping solo sucks. I "learned" this in Moab last year but somehow ignored said learning and now find myself terribly lonely and bored.
3. If you are camping alone radio show podcasts are your best friend. There's a very good reason it's called A Prairie Home Companion, though I'm partial to This American Life and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me....
4. Island Foxes are basically cute, red, skinny racoons, with way more gumption. Last night two trotted their way into camp, one of whom eventually made its way to my picnic table, where I was sitting, and tried to snatch my bag of GORP no more than an arm's length away. Two more showed up tonight, though were not as brazen and eventually gave up trying to sneak up on me and my food. Oh and they smell like urine and skunk combined. You definitely can smell them before you see them.
5. Don't do your hardest day of hiking first. For some dumb reason I did the Del Norte Trail backwards - going from Scorpion Harbor to Prisoners Harber. My schedule: Day 1 - no hiking, Day 2 - 10 miles, Day 3 - small hiking for day trips, light pack, and Day 4 - 4 miles. Now this wasn't so bad except that after day 2 I was ready to sleep all day 3 trying to recover.
6. Bring extra batteries and turn things off when putting them back in the pack. I had a nice shot all set up last night to do an ambient @ dusk only to find I'd left my flash on all day. Oops.
7. 550 Cord is a multi-use godsend. See photo of impromptu shade.
8. Make lists! I'd started to do this for my food, but didn't go all the way to the point of laying out the food and checking it off the list. Result? I forgot to pack certain things. Nothing important was forgotten, but it was still annoying. I didn't even make a list for camera gear, and as a consequence forgot Pocket Wizards, a camera pre-trigger, gels and the pocket wizard to hot shoe plug. Oops, no self-portraits this trip.
9. Camping alone sucks! I already mentioned this, but it's so important that it needs to be on here twice. Without others to camp with not only do you get lonely and bored, but you are relying on other people being on the trail and in places for you to photograph them. Not good! Plus I should have learned this again in Morocco, where I was alone and it sucked.
10. Mid day sucks. If you're on the trail 12pm - 2pm is a great time to have lunch, take your shoes off and catch a cat nap. The light is horrible for photos from pretty much 9am to 4pm anyway (adjust for DST), and no one likes hiking in the blazing sun. If you're not on the trail make sure you have a book to keep you occupied as you hang out around camp. (Lesson 10.5: bring a book).