Friday is mosque day

Istanbul, Turkey

~ Spotted Cow

Travel photography. Obliging objects

In Marrakech, I encountered lots of beautiful tiles, doorways, and terracotta walls and my photo library is full of stills to record the details.

In atmospheric places like Marrakech, where you have lots of architectural detail, you need an obliging object to make your travel photograph that little bit more interesting. It could be a ginger cat, a donkey, a man in a traditional djellaba – something, anything, to give your picture a focal point but still bring out the cultural elements you intended to capture. It requires some patience and alertness. Cats and donkeys don’t conjure up out of nowhere.

Here are some examples. I think the images would’ve been serviceable without the said obliging objects. But they would’ve been less interesting and less personal. Everyone can shoot the tile image, but not everyone will have the ginger cat. That one thing will make it your picture.

~ Spotted Cow

Weekly Photo Challenge: Between

At the Saadian tombs in Marrakech, while the other tourists stood in the hour-long queue to view the marble and gold tombs of the Sultan, I spied this man who had set up his “workshop” in an easily-missed corner of the garden, wedged between two walls, cutting geometric patterns from discarded coloured tiles. He sold them for 10 dirham (a bit less than £1 and a bit more than $1).

This week’s Weekly Photo Challenge theme is Between.

Pictures below of his lovely cut-outs from the tiles.

~ Spotted Cow