Satellite
  • Day 8

    Success or Failure?

    May 8, 2019 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    At 3pm later today I arranged to meet Nigel and Monique to share transport to the airport but until then I had time to myself to sort myself out, pack away my camera gear (not a two second task) and complete my mission to purchase that fridge magnet. So, packed and ready to go I left my bags safely stowed in the Ryad and headed out in search of a magnet ... I wasn’t looking forward to this given my experiences a week ago. To my surprise something had changed because this time, somehow, I must have been different. This time I hardly got pestered at all and when I was approached with the offer to see ‘this’ festival or ‘that’ event I had magically found the confidence and words to swiftly deal with any attack. Or maybe it was simply the body language emitted by a desperate person on a mission to seek out fridge magnets, to boldly go where ... before I wasn’t so bold!

    I found my magnet and I also got lost amongst the backstreets of the Médina but no worries, with the help of Google Maps and the generous help of what appeared to be a ten year old child (who expected to be paid of course so maybe not so generous after all) I made it back to the Ryad then started my journey to the airport to begin my travel home.

    So was this trip a success or a failure?

    I pose this question now I’m back home and without doubt it was a success. How could it not be? Well, upon arriving home I wasn’t so sure because when I first checked my photos I was rather disappointed, as often I am when I see them on the computer straight out of the camera. I’d set my target this time at fifteen as the number of competition standard images I would bring back. At first look I couldn’t find half a dozen. I was sad.

    This trip was a success however and in many respects I’ve appreciated it more since arriving home. The people I travelled with were so warm and friendly and we all got on so well. Our photography skills were at different levels but we all supported and learned so much from each other and, most definitely, me included. There were several occasions when I was well out of my comfort zone, street photography for sure, but that can never be a bad thing. I learned a lot both about my photography and myself and thank everyone who travelled with me, and Katrina of course, for the experiences because without all of them it could never have been so enjoyable. Then there were the physical experiences of actually being out there in that landscape - the desert views, the towns and villages, the sand dunes, the camels in the desert and those night skies. Wow! What else can I say? Within just a few weeks I’ve been privileged to be in the arctic landscapes and temperatures of northern Norway and now the desert environments of Morocco. Wow indeed!

    So what about those photographs then? Well yes of course, once I sat down properly and looked through my images more carefully then there they were - a whole collection waiting to be processed. There were plenty of failures of course but a goodly number of great ones too and in this footprint are six which I thought you’d like to see, including the grass in the sand and the blue wall from the gardens. You’ve already seen the night sky photographs of course.

    I think this journey, for you as the reader, has maybe been very different to my others so I really do hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the trip. I guess it’s a little weird I was on a photographic workshop and there’s not been so many photos of the landscapes as I usually show you. I think that’s simply because my time wasn’t my own and the journey times, in proportion to the overall length of the trip, were huge. It felt like most of the time was spent in the minibus, but I guess that’s not really the case.

    I don’t yet have my next adventure planned but rest assured there will be another and who knows where. Whatever or wherever it is I hope you’ll travel with me again.
    Read more