Morrocan South 1968

From a forgotten place I have just exhumed a collection of old photos. It seems they have not been excessively affected by dampness. I have discovered again my first slides taken in 1968 (45 years ago!) during a car trip in great Morrocan South. I then used for the first time a 24x36 camera, fot the connoisseurs a compact with telemetric focusing, without any automatism, a Voigtländer Vito CSR, with a fixed focalled 50 lens. What a wonderful gift! whereas till now I had used the venerable family folding camera...

The slides are relatively in good condition (they were stocked in nearly waterproof boxes). However... how could I say, without a scanner and a slide-projector and anxious to show you them, I have made something unorthodox : with the help of the digital camera I have photographed each slide introduced in a pocket viewer. Loss of quality is inevitable as well for definiteness as for colours which I have tried to improve with the computer.

Anyway they have a charmful retro look. Thus I present you them, with some emotion. In spite I have written (see : "Une Vie Fantastique") that "my country is not my country but in my head", seeing again those photos gives me a little heart shock.

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Marrakech, Djemma el Fna square. Place of meetings (fairground entertainers, story-tellers, stallholders, haulage...) lively night and day. Notice the horse-drawn carriage on the right.

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Marrakech, Djemma el Fna square. At present the mobs (of tourists) have increased and the square is less authentic and orientally magical than formerly.

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Marrakech, Djemma el Fna square and Koutoubia mosque, same period and style as Tour Hassan in Rabat.

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Marrakech, the tanners district. The sheepskins are dried on the sun-burnt roofs and crushed by the artisans' feet.

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Marrakech, the garden house of Ménara. Formerly it was the place for the dates of the sultans, within the big gardens covered with olive and other fruit trees. The pool is a water tank.

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Essaouira (formerly Mogador), the fishing port. Nowadays Essaouira is also a seaside resort and a art and culture city, well known for its local painters.

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Taroudant, the public park surrounding the ramparts. Notice the bunches of dates hung to a palm tree.

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Morrocan South 1968

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