Many places in Morocco lend themselves to amazing photos. Whether you are an amateur or semi-pro, getting superb landscape (or even people shots) adds to the depth of your experience and helps to bring your trip back to life once you are home again. I’ve gone through some of our latest Morocco trekking photos and thought I’d share those with our readers with a quick blurb about the location and what I enjoy about the photo itself. I can’t offer much in the way of technique or camera settings; my knowledge is more on the ascetic side of the whole thing. If you’ve got any comments or photos of rural Morocco, or photos of you enjoying your time in Morocco’s mountains, please feel free to send them to us via email. I will try to add them to this piece over time. Unless otherwise stated, these photos were taken by Chris Griffiths and Thom Buttery, amazing photographers and film makers from the UK who are responsible for our amazing travel videos you’ll find throughout our website (including those of Fez, Essaouira, Chefchaouen, and more).
This particular photo actually won an award in the UK. I’m hunched on the rock overlooking the valley while Chris snaps the shot. This particular region is located outside of Azrou in a region that overlooks an entire, stunning valley. My friend Kolin (an Ifrane walking, biking expert) put together this walk and it’s become one of our favorites! I’m now using this photo on our Morocco trekking overview that offers insightful preparatory information for walkers and trekkers alike.
Village Shots
Talk about a great village shot! This is a photo of Armed (also known/written as Aroumd and Aremd) in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. This village is just past Imlil and a much more worthwhile spot to have an overnight, especially if you are preparing to head up Mount Toubkal, among other peaks, in the national park. We waited quite a while for the light to be just perfect before snapping this shot and doing some time lapse photos. Those persons coming along on one of our group treks in the Atlas will have this (and many other) stunning views of rural life and landscapes.
People Shots
Getting shots of people in Morocco can be a bit tricky. We talk about this more in-depth in our “Morocco Survival Guide” packet that clients receive once booked on a tour. For this and the fellow below we had our head mountain guide, Omar, talk to them for a few minutes. It turns out he knew their families and we asked if we might take some shots and film, which we used in our premier Morocco tour video as found on our homepage. We filmed and photographed for nearly an hour. And, when doing such shots we got used to giving a little money to those whom we filmed; we left each man a solid amount for allowing us to film and use the footage. We have visited these fellows following and now travelers/trekkers enjoy meeting a couple of the stars in our short video.
The first salt-mine worker’s friend gave us this stellar up-close portrait. By the time we grabbed this photo, we had already had some laughs with this gentleman who sure has weather-worn features that look beautiful on film. These guys work hard, but still have a happy glow that’s reflected in their smiles and eyes.
Landscape Photos
This photo I enjoy since it shows the dry, arid infinity that is the Atlas Mountains when trekking in these more remote regions. This area happens to be in the foothills a bit (not too high in altitude) outside of Ouirgane, a superb little gem of a place and great for trekking in the colder, winter months. While there are no people in the shot (which is something I enjoy since it offers panoramic perspective), this photo allows the viewer to escape into the shot imagining that s/he were one with the hills enjoying the day out of doors and pretty far removed from the hustle and bustle of modern times. At least, that’s my thought! I’ll leave you to imagine your own : )
Actually Getting Out There!
If you’d like to experience Morocco’s rural areas, then look no further than our expert team. Journey Beyond Travel offers both private and group departures for treks (sorry, but we do not offer group trips for our other itineraries). And, there are two regions in which we focus. The first is the Toubkal National Park where we do Atlas trekking and excursions, and in the even more removed Mgoun Ait Bougmez region of the country. If you are interested in fun trekking, superb guiding, awesome amenities (we have great equipment and serve stellar food), then you’ve found this year’s adventure! Give us a quick email to get on board!
