- Calligraphy
I tried to upload the other three photos, but Word Press won’t let me. Maybe because they are so large. I’ve read that people prefer looking at larger photos and I do, too. At least, I like to see mine large. So, we will wait for the other two.
I like this photo for several reasons. The most basic is that the heads of the three people form a triangle almost in the 1/3 line. I like the body language of the Moorish man and the fascination expressed by the boy’s position and, as well, by the man standing hunched over and peering down. To be brutally honest, I had to crop this as the other man’s knee was protruding into the pic. If cropping had ruined the composition, I’d simply have burned that knee in, so that the knee would be too dark to notice. For me, the light doesn’t get better than this. Strong directional light with deep shadows. It sets a mood, doesn’t it? So very Rembrandt!
The Moor is inscribing Arabic calligraphy in the tourist’s journal. I imagine that when the tourist looks at that flowing script, he remembers this day as clearly as I do when I look at my photos.
Sometimes I don’t realize what power a photo has for me until I work on it in Photoshop. Memories of that day come flooding back and I am no longer sitting at my computer, but far away in an ancient village that is slowly being inundated by the sands of the Sahara.
We stayed in a simple hotel. The showers, etc. were out back, but they were clean. After camping for several days, we felt we were staying in luxury. We ate dinner under a Mauritanian tent. The tents are unique in that they are white but lined with colorful printed cottons. And they are huge, no need to hunch over when you are changing places. One noon we were served camel meat…stewed, of course, is there any other way? It has a sweetish beef taste. The others would not eat it, but I had eaten it in Morocco and enjoyed it.
The people of Chinguetti were friendly. Most of them make some money selling things to tourists, so they have to be friendly. The really friendly ones had successful enterprises and they would call to you as if you were their long lost friend, to come to their shop “just to look and have some tea”.