Seeing the Forest for the Trees in the Sahara Desert - Los Angeles Fine Art Photographer

Being a creative, I enjoy the process of appreciating the often-overlooked moments or details and turning them into art. On one morning, after we trekked into the Sahara desert, on camel back, this one fellow insisted on showing me his teeth, with his breakfast stuck in between. He’s not the only quirky one that I met out there and he probably thought the same about me. Thanks to him and his characteristic colleagues, that morning means more than just about Sahara’s (gorgeous) sunrise.

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Thankfully, I did not lose all my footing to each and every cuteness that I encountered. From time to time, I remembered why I was there and this is when I saw the forest, the one of the camels.

Camel-Lines-Erg-Chebbi-Sahara-Morocco-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

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He Said "Beautiful" - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

Despite people’s hostility to camera, my eyes and mind never stopped searching for photography opportunity. In the Sahara desert, my urge to photograph this Amazighs boy overcame my hesitation. He was leading the camels for another group and I couldn’t pass the opportunity to the possible reaction to my proposal to photograph him.

To my surprise, he reluctantly agreed. I quickly got into position and made this image, before he had a chance to change his mind or change his position for what he thought he should look like to a photographer. I wanted him as the way he was.

When he saw himself at the back of the camera, “beautiful” was the word that he said.

That made my day, because I know I’ve got free pass to photograph him from then on.

Camel-Leader-Erg-Chebbi-Sahara-Morocco-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

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I Had People Framed in Morocco - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

We got into Marrakesh late in the afternoon.  While searching for our riad* through the labyrinth of alleyways, I did not forget to make mental notes of the vendors, sitting at the bottom of the walls in dim light, each with their goods for sale on the ground in front of them.  In my highly-trained American eyes (I suppose there is such thing), that is a life-style that's miles different from ours and it is "so cool".

Well, what appears cool in spirit met its reality the next morning in the souk**.  Immediately after I framed an image of a person quietly making handicrafts, the guy sitting across the narrow street "reported" it to him and I got an unpleasant face and a few words.  Yes, amidst the excitement of being in a country of far-flung culture, language and religion, I completely forgot what I read before the trip, that Moroccan people do not like being photographed.  But honestly speaking, I did not envision this and the escalated reactions we met later in the trip.  

“There’s no way I can take a camera and just do street photography in Morocco. People will get aggressive.” Reading the words of the late French-Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui after the trip only confirms the challenges we ran into and did nothing in comforting the mixed emotions at the time.

But, I was once described as a daisy that keeps being run over by trucks and yet keeps popping back up (Thank you, Cara!).  Although I consider myself prettier than a daisy, if I ever am a flower, the tough little daisy continued showing her resilience as the trip unfolded.  Before the end of trip, I managed to have people framed in this way. :p
 

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Magnum photographer Jim Goldberg was once commission, along with four others from the renowned agency, to report live from the ground in Marrakesh.  After meeting resistance from people being photographed, in desperation, he started shooting a few frames of a horse that happened to be passing. Suddenly a guy appeared and said: "No! Stop! My horse does not want to be photographed."

Ummm, I hope the camel in my image does not mind being photographed...

*A riad is a traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden or courtyard.  To learn more about a Moroccan riad, please read here.
** A souk is a traditional market Western Asian and North African cities.  To learn more, please click this link.

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