Near Tafraoute
Morocco 1997, in the Anti Atlas Mountains near Tafraoute
The first time I went to Tafraoute was on a tour, 6 or so people packed in a small 4×4. I longingly glimpsed the hilltop kasbahs built of stone that stood like outposts in the rugged terrain. We did have an opportunity to photograph Id Ougnidif, the most beautiful hilltop village of them all. I think I got an ok shot. I remember I framed the kasbah with the branches of a twisted tamarisk tree. I must not have been satisfied with it because I went back to try again on a later visit.
That’s when we came across these mountain Berbers with their camels, taking goods to a village market. At first they didn’t want their photo taken. (Get used to that if you go to Morocco. No one wants you to take their photo. It can be disheartening.)
I tried to convince the men to let me get at least one shot. All the time, my Berber driver was yelling at me to “TAKE! TAKE!” and so I took. I wanted time to move around and try several viewpoints, but it was now or never. I got lucky. I like this shot with the man in the foreground puffing on a cigarette and the one camel’s head turned. I toned it with a sepia tone in Photoshop because scanning the negative was less than satisfactory. I printed this in my darkroom back in the day and I still love that one. It didn’t need embellishment.