Morocco on Film

I travelled to Morocco in May and took with me an old Canon 1000n, two lenses and some rolls of Kodak Portra 400 and Fujifilm Provia 400x, which has sadly been discontinued by Fuji. Thankfully, Kodak Portra has been given a new lease on life and is readily available at any good photography store and on Amazon. It’s a shame that the Fuji Provia 400x is no longer made, because it’s a beautiful film and it renders colours extremely differently to the Kodak Portra. But I digress.

Being an avid traveller, I had always wanted to travel to Morocco and in November of 2014 my Husband was lucky enough to fulfil a dream and sail across the Atlantic Ocean. He was gone for just over a month in total and talks about it being one of the best experiences of his life. It got me thinking about my own experiences and how one of the best times of my life was the time I spent backpacking between 2006 – 2008. Travelling is the only thing that frees my soul and refuels it at the same time. As the saying go, it’s the only thing you buy that makes you richer, and I fully agree. I needed to get out and do some soul refuelling and Morocco is where I’d do it.

I also wanted to get back to my photography roots and shoot Morocco on film, so while I did take my Canon 5D with me, I mainly used the film camera, which is an entry level 35mm film camera Canon released back in about 1992. I think I’ve had it for about that long, actually. The good thing is that you can still use all of your EF lenses, so I took my trusty workhorse 24-70mm and also a Sigma 50mm ART lens. What I didn’t do, and wish I had, is take notes on my shots because the 1000n cannot record shot details for your like some newer cameras can. Nevertheless, it’s a great little lightweight starter camera and it was a pleasure to use. There is some off-ness in the framing, wherein what I see through the viewfinder is not quite what appears in the final image. The camera picks up more to the left of the frame than it does the right, which so far is the only fault I have found with a camera that’s over 20 years old.

I only had 10 days, so I wanted to see as much as I could in that time. A friend from Germany joined me and we started our trip by meeting in Casablanca. We spent 3 days in Casablanca, which in hindsight was one day too much. But it did allow us to take the train into Rabat for a day, which was a great walled seaside town and the Capital of Morocco. We experienced our first Medina in Casablanca and we got to see the great seaside Mosque. Unfortunately, the Mosque was closed but it was beautiful nonetheless. Our third stop was Fez, which was about 4 hours from Casablanca and I think Fez, followed by Marrakesh was my favourite place. The Riad we stayed at, Riad Rcif was arguably the best Riad in all of Fez. A family run business and conveniently located near Place Rcif, is a fully restored Moroccan mansion. Finally though, we took the 8 hour train journey to Marrakesh before heading back to Casablanca to fly home again. It was one of the best backpacking trips I’ve done in years and it reminded me so much how I’d missed it.

Below you can see a selection of the images I shot on the film that I took with me. Since then, I have gotten my hands on a Canon EOS 1v and I can’t wait to try it out in July when we head to France, Spain and Portugal. But for now, enjoy these images from Morocco. It’s interesting how the Kodak records the colours to how the Fujifilm records them. More saturation and contrast with the Fuji, which I love, but I also love the pastels of the Kodak. What do you prefer?

 

Kodak Portra 400, Casablanca

Kodak Portra 400, Casablanca

Kodak Portra 400, Casablanca

Kodak Portra 400, Casablanca

Kodak Portra 400, Casablanca

Kodak Portra 400, Casablanca

Kodak Portra 400, Rabat

Kodak Portra 400, Rabat

Kodak Portra 400, Rabat

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Fez

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Mara

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, High Atlas

Kodak Portra 400, High Atlas

Kodak Portra 400, High Atlas

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Kodak Portra 400, Marrakesh

Fujifilm Provia 400x, Marrakesh

Fujifilm Provia 400x, Marrakesh

Fujifilm Provia 400x, Marrakesh

Fujifilm Provia 400x, Marrakesh

Fujifilm Provia 400x, Marrakesh

Fujifilm Provia 400x, Marrakesh

Fujifilm Provia 400x, Marrakesh