Hello from Morocco! An update -

[joelio]

Hello all -

Our move to Morocco has gone very well - we are getting settled in, the markets are great and the people are incredibly nice. Aside from the horrible driving conditions (err - the drivers), all is well.

Photography here is funny. Most people are either shy or unwilling to have their photo taken, though are very excited to see you making pictures of other people. Young people LOVE seeing big cameras out and about. I have yet to get my large format gear out, though people are very interested in tiny format (digital) and know some of the current models. I brought enough chemistry for about 3 boxes of film, which was good planning - their is no infrastructure for digital or analog photography in this country. Big electronic stores stock old p&s cameras and little else. If anything goes wrong with my 4x5 I am going to have to find a great toolkit (and some technical know-how) or head to Paris for the big boys to fix (Le Gran Format or another great shop).

I encourage everyone to make a trip over - direct flights from JFK to Casablanca are pretty quick. Also, Paris is only three hours away on Air France.

Let me know if you have any questions. It really is incredible over here.

-Joel

[Hollis]

Joel, if you are in Fes the manger of Dar Roumana guest house has a small b/w darkroom and knows how and where to get chemistry. Her name is Vanessa and she also helps organize photo workshops with some pretty well known photographers (Roger Ballen, Antoine D'Agata, etc)

Hope that helps!

[joelio]

How did I miss this response for over a year? I would have killed to have access to a darkroom...and am moving back to the states in two months!

Oh well!

Joel, if you are in Fes the manger of Dar Roumana guest house has a small b/w darkroom and knows how and where to get chemistry. Her name is Vanessa and she also helps organize photo workshops with some pretty well known photographers (Roger Ballen, Antoine D'Agata, etc)

Hope that helps!

[ROL]

I just have to say (because I'm obviously cracked ), 'Vanessa' + Morocco + Darkroom, is about as exotically romantic a combination of words as I can imagine.

Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

[joelio]

My wife may disagree!

[Steven Tribe]

Vanessa has confirmed the existence of a darkroom.

And she may confirm here too! So perhaps further comments could be more PC!

[Vanessa]

Hi, this is the exotically romantic Vanessa of the fabled darkroom! I have a small room in my house in Fes which I converted into a basic darkroom, using old equipment donated by my Uncle George who previously had said gear in his shed in Australia. So the darkroom has had quite a journey.
As for chemicals, I tracked down the one person in Morocco who imports them by getting in touch with Ilford in the UK. After a couple of visits to Rabat I made contact with Benbrahim who is a bit of legend and you would have a lot in common with him as he supplies film for aerial photography and apparently studied photo science in Berlin back in the '60s. His photography gear is stored in a old garage at the back of a fish market in Rabat and when I visited him he showed me a large format camera that he was building himself. He also had boxes of old Kentmere photographic paper and all sorts of treasures. Let me know if you want to get in touch with him, I have a phone number.

[DougD]

I have to say this is a helluva cool thread.

[ROL]

Hi, this is the exotically romantic Vanessa of the fabled darkroom!

. Hi Vanessa. It's good to see you have a sense of humor, as well as some appreciation for the film Casablanca – all very exotic to me, here in PC POC*.




* Politically Correct Plain Old California.

[joelio]

Vanessa! With posting on the forum, the world just became a tad smaller - I just emailed you an hour ago!

I hope to meet Benbrahim in the near future. He is behind the marche central or the fish market within the medina (closer to the Oudayas)? I am familiar with some of the camera shops near the marche central, though I haven't come across any film or film cameras.

As always, thanks!