Sahara Dunes

Being into the desert was the greatest experience so far I had in Morocco. I visited two of the tree deserts they have. First I did 2 days and nights in Erg Chigaga, it is quite big one and it is a long road south from Zagora.










Starting the year in tents in the middle of nowhere is an experience that I’ll never forget. Those days it was full moon, I did some night pictures with long exposition making the night looks like a day.






Days latter I keep travelling and reach Erg Chebbi, that make frontier with Argelia. It is the touristiest one, small in size but with highest dunes. This time I was thinking to travel by dromedary to the black desert, who is at the back of the dunes, I couldn’t find an agreement with the guides about the price, so I have a good excuse to come back.

The colours of Morocco

I still remembered that day when Manuel Velásquez, who is a very talented photographer and very good friend, came back from Morocco. It was more than one year since we met after his trip. We talk about his experience the entire afternoon, there was something in his eyes that I could read, he came back transformed.





My experience was quite different than his, I took mostly southern routes rather than northern ones but the effect was the same.





Flying to Agadir was a good starting point despite the fact that there is not much to see there, but it is in the southern coast, well located and very close to wonderful cities and small villages like Tifnite, Tiznit, Ifni, Sidi-Ifni and Guelmim.





Driving into the south… little by little, the landscape change, the people change, the colours change.




One of the first things that I noticed was how different people dress in the south, and how rich and pure are their colours. There is a very good mix of ethnic groups living in harmony: Arabians, Bereberes and Subsaharians. Most of the Bereberes and Subsaharians peolple wear colourful clothes, then making a huge contrast with the rest of the scenery.






I travelled mostly Anti-atlas, where landscape is dry, very dry ! There is nearly NO LIFE outside the Oasis. There are no many of them but an Oasis is synonymous of town in Morocco. Straight roads for long distances until the next village, hills and mountains alongside the way. And the best company for a photographer, light. Winter light was a gift all the way, I never felt like this in front of such a sunlight, it was powerful and smooth at the same time. It came always in an angle and purity that make things look wonderful. There is when colours shows their best.

Meeting Ariel's photos

I have known Ariel for almost 2 years now and soon I began aware of his interest in taking photos, but I thought it was just a hobby so I did not rush to have a look at his work.
This summer while I was visiting an internet point I typed his name on google.
It is difficult for me to describe the feeling I got from his pictures. I suppose that something similar have to feel someone who gets a bullet from a gun he thought was a toy. I was literally shocked.
Ariel’s photos were not the work of an amateur who uses the camera to fulfil his spare time. His pictures showed he had learnt how to use the camera in a professional way, and even more important that he had got an amazing eye. “Tus fotos son maravillosas” was the message I sent to him. For the moment there was nothing else to say.



The deal

During our next drinking meeting, just before getting drunk, we decided to do something to advertise those photos and eventually sell some of them. To celebrate our brand new project we took the decision to go on a photographic trip to Donegal in the North of Ireland. It was going to mark the starting point of the new project and eventually enrich the portfolio.

Being a landscape photographer

Of course it was lot of fun and for me an opportunity to learn about what being a landscape photographer really mean.
It can sound very basic but the first thing I learnt was to look up at the sky. I have never realised the importance of it in landscape photography. Its colour, the amount of light that was going through, the clouds shape were all elements that Ariel was studying meticulously and not only as a pre-condition to get a good photo but as part of the photo themselves. I also learnt that the sky shows his best at dawn and dusk, from which follows that the first rule to be a good landscape photographer is to get up early and preferably go to bed early. In a simple statement a landscape photographer need to be in good harmony with the element he wants to portrait.



Life is tough

No rain, no wind, no earthquake, no tsunami can stop a photographer to shoot a good image and as a consequence of this philosophy of life I cannot remember a single moment in which our cloths were dry. We got wet first thing in the morning and we stayed like this for the rest of the day. Honestly for me was easier, I was the driver and I had no camera so very often I stayed in the car while Ariel was getting the rain or even worst was lying on the muddy ground in order to shot from the right angle.




The landscape photographer social life

As we spent our day in the car looking for the right place to shoot we did not meet a lot of people. The places that provided us with this opportunity were the hostels. The owner of the Shamrock hostel on the northernmost piece of Irish land is a very funny character and the place is worth to be seen. But the best encounter we had was during our stay in the Concreggan Mill hostel.



After having our showers and a frugal dinner we went to the living room where 3 people were chatting around the fireplace. One of them was a guy from New Zeeland who was travelling by bike around Ireland. The other two we soon discovered were a retired couple from England who were living in a little town in Northern Ireland. They often spent their holiday in the hostel with the aim of shooting pictures in the surrounding. The husband a very funny and energetic chap who had spent his working life as a cameraman was making joints and sharing them with his new friends. He told us that he was taking advantage of the strong wind to capture some good image of waves in Horn Head. We did not know the place so we wrote it down.
The next day early in the morning we went to visit it. We shoot some photos along the road



but what surprised us was the dramatic view that we got before our eyes once we reached the highest point of the road. We did not know what kind of image we could get from it but we were absolutely sure about the name: El drama