Lessons from the Berbers

In these tough economic times we can all learn a business lesson from this Berber jewellery trader that Janet and I came across recently in the Lower Atlas Mountains near Marrakech. Every day he hikes up the mountain to set up his stall on this steep, rocky footpath that leads to spectacular waterfalls high above the small village of Setti Fadma. This guarantees him a steady flow of potential customers during the day. Now that's dedication!

Admittedly, his temporary shop is no doubt well away from the attentions of the tax authorities and health and safety (if it exists in Morocco!), but we were so impressed with his sheer hard work that it made him at least one sale that day. Anyone who knows Marrakech will know that the locals are always keen to sell you something (well, anything in fact), to the point where it can become tiresome after a long day sightseeing, but today we were happy to reward this Berber entrepreneur. Janet is now the proud owner of a locally made turquoise and silver necklace (bartered for in true Moroccan tradition of course).

May News Round-Up

You will have heard the analogy of the duck swimming along, all calm on the surface but paddling like fury underneath. It's been a bit like that at Michael Turner Photography lately, with some major changes in the pipeline for 2011 that we're working on now. In the meantime, we've been busy with studio and outdoor portraits, three trips abroad and putting into action the plans for our new photography school. In March Janet and I visited some old friends in Holland and had a city break in Marrakech. What an amazing place! In April we sailed across the Aegean with our good friend Jonathon on Koralia3. Even though these were holidays of course, I've been taking the opportunity to build up material for the photography workshops and add to my portolio of travel images.

As for the rest of the year, I'll be announcing some workshop dates over the next few weeks and updating the web site. We've made a start on the re-structure of the website but there's a long way to go yet. In June we'll be exhibiting at the Cheshire County Show and then in July at the Signal FM Bumps Show. And next January I'll be speaking and judging once again at the SWPP International Convention. Never a dull moment eh!

The hustle and bustle of the souks in Marrakech....

And Spring flowers in Greece.... More travel and portrait images coming soon!

A whistlestop tour of Malta

Yesterday, after three days of hard work at the MIPP conference, our Maltese hosts treated Janet and me and the rest of the UK party to a trip around the island and a taster of the delights of Malta. Our base for the weekend, the Corinthia in San Gorg, was a very comfortable hotel and made a superb location for a photographic convention, but it was relief to escape our modern surroundings and get out to see some of the real Malta on our final day. Our whistlestop tour included Mosta, Dingli Cliffs and the Blue Grotto, Valletta, Mdina and Marsaxlokk. Needless to say that with only a few hours to spare we didn't get a lot of time for serious photography, but we did enjoy the beautiful November weather and saw enought of the country to convince us that Malta is a photographer's paradise.

Golden light in the alleyways of the ancient city of Mdina...

The fishing village of Marsaxlokk is famous for it's colourful fishing boats, but looking inland this colourful doorway also caught my eye.Mediterranean cats always make appealing subjects.....

After our brief taster, one thing is sure - we'll be making a return visit......

Postcard from Greece

Janet and I have just returned from a holiday sailing around the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece. Normal service at Michael Turner Photography is slowly being resumed, though after two weeks of hot and sunny weather we're not impressed that it's still cool and showery here in the UK. It's OK, we don't expect sympathy!
We were sailing with our good friend Jonathan Chandler, his partner Conny, their summertime skipper Lex and an American couple from Connecticut, Conrad and Amy. This was a busman's holiday for Jonathan, he spends the rest of the summer running skippered charters around the Greek Islands. Jonathan was born in Greece, educated at Dartmouth Naval College and employed firstly in the Hong Kong Police and then in the world of corporate sailing in the USA (America's Cup, Whitbread Round the World Race). A colourful background to say the least. Now he has settled back in his home country and his local knowledge and understanding of Greek culture (and especially the food) gives an extra dimension to a sailing trip that can't be matched by the big charter companies. You can check out his website at http://www.sailcharter-greece.com/.

Jonathan's pride and joy, and our home for the past two weeks, Koralia3...

This was an active sailing holiday for us, rather than a photographic trip, but we did manage to take 'one or two' pictures along the way. This is a tiny selection :

A typical street scene on Poros, our first port of call after sailing out of Alimos Marina in Athens...

A sunrise walk around the harbour on Elafonisos island at the southern tip of the Peloponnese rewarded me with a portrait of this amazing looking character preparing his fishing boat. I don't speak fluent Greek (only a few words in fact) but a gesture to the camera and 'en-dak-zee?' (that's Greek for OK) and he was happy to pose.

Two more pictorial shots from my early morning walk...

Random images from the most southerly island on our voyage - Kythira...

If you think that Greece is completely dry in August you may be surprised to see this shot of an ethereal waterfall we found at Mylopotamos on Kythira island...

And finally...for our friends who think that our sailing in the Aegean is the same as going on a cruise, in other words lounging on board a luxury yacht drinking ouzo all day, think again....this is Janet in action raising the mizzen, nonchalantly assisted by Lex!

Paris in the Spring

Last week Janet and I spent a few days in Paris with friends. We took the opportunity to be inspired in some of the major art galleries, notably the Louvre, L'Orangerie and my favourite (for the huge collection of Impressionist paintings), the Musee D'Orsay. Needless to say we had our cameras with us! Avoiding the obvious touristy views, these are some of my favourite shots from the week. Shopping and Paris go hand in hand. This fashion store window made an interesting backdrop, and a busy passer by on her mobile phone completed the scene.... People taking photographs of each other make great subject for candid photography...... here we're in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. In the Louvre. The tourist paparazzi ?

And who was the celebrity they were desperate to capture? Yes, that famous lady, the Mona Lisa. I'm fascinated to know what all these people are going to do with their own snap of Leonardo da Vinci's painting...hang a print of it on the wall? Or is it simply a case of proving to family back home that they've seen the real thing? Another tourist 'must-do' ticked off the list. Quite amusing really...I wonder whether Leonardo could have ever imagined these scenes when he set out to paint his iconic portrait way back in 1504....

Scenes reminiscent of Lowry paintings, shot through the upstairs windows of the Louvre. I avoided reflections from the windows by pressing my lens close up to the glass.....

Back outside, and a heavy shower on it's way helped to create this moody lighting in the Jardin des Tuileries and on the roof of L'Orangerie in the background.....

The view from the Arc de Triomphe, looking back towards La Defense and the commercial district on another showery evening.

Looking upwards in the spiral staircase that takes you to the top of the Arc. It reminds me of a snail shell.

Nervous drivers should look away now.......this isn't a picture of a car park, but the circular road that surrounds the Arc de Triomphe. Traffic comes in from all directions and each vehicle has to battle across the roundabout to exit by one of the twelve avenues that converge on this point. An amazing sight for the spectator, and every motor insurance company's worst nightmare!

And finally.......I couldn't resist this candid shot of a headless man reading one of the descriptive labels in the Louvre........

More pictures from Spain

Olive trees everywhere...typical landscape scenery from Andalucia.... Our accommodation for the second part of out trip was a country bed and breakfast , Casa de Sueno, miles from anywhere. We awoke every morning to the sound of hoopoes 'hooping' on the cables outside the apartment window...

The nearest town was Priego de Cordoba in the heart of olive country. I particularly liked these two evening shots on the Balcon de Aldarve...

The amazing Moorish architecture of the Mezquita in Cordoba. Highly recommended...

More typical Andalucian scenery, this time from the 'Spanish Lake District' just outside Malaga...

The Alhambra

First of all I'd like to wish everyone a peaceful and happy Easter holiday.

Just before Easter Janet and I spent a few days in Southern Spain - the Easter break has given me the chance to catch up with the blog and to post some of my favourite images from the trip.

Our first couple of days were spent in Granada. The Spring weather was very pleasant and we found a great Tapas bar just down the hill from the Alhambra for when the temperatures dipped in the evening.

The first shot though is of the classic daytime view of the Alhambra from the Albacin, with the snowy slopes of the Sierra Nevada just visible in the background. Our hotel (Hotel America) was situated in the grounds of the Alhambra, so we spent the early part of each evening wandering the grounds. Palacio del Portal, Alhambra...

An evening view from the Alhambra across to the Albacin..... The archways of the Palacio Carlos V (I usually try to include people in photographs for interest and scale)....

I love to photograph tourists, especially when they are busy taking photographs.......... And finally....tourism can be very tiring - I couldn't resist photographing this sleeping couple in the Casa Reales. I can't blame them....the stonework radiates so much heat from the daytime sun that anyone would fall asleep on that bench.

Tea with the Bedouin

Towards the end of my recent trip to Sinai I took the opportunity to visit some of the local Bedouin people with Jane and Helen, photographer friends and colleagues from the Photo Training Overseas group. The nearest town to our hotel in Taba was actually about 45km down the Red Sea coast, but dotted along the roadside were various Bedouin encampments. Not, as you might imagine, the romantic notion of luxurious tented villages in the desert, but makeshift shacks made of old scraps of wood and metal. We parked the car nearby and approached a small group of shacks, not quite knowing what we were letting ourselves in for and how we would be received. We needn't have been concerned. In traditional Bedouin fashion we were welcomed as friends, once they had established that we simply wanted to meet them and to take a few photographs.

The welcome party of curious little boys that came out to greet our arrival. A proud father poses unprompted with his son. I love the charm of this spontaneous moment.

The traditional Bedouin welcome of tea and talk.

An amusing diversion as Saleh attempts to call Janet, back home in England, on his mobile (he got the studio off my business card, but managed to connect to a very puzzled man somewhere in Egypt). Traditional lifestyle meets modern technology A camel demonstration..... This little girl was wary of us at first, shy above anything else, but gradually we gained her confidence and even coaxed her into the shade where the light was better for portraits! A beautiful, pensive portrait...

And finally, a gorgeous smile.

This small group of Bedouin, living in extremely basic but hopefully only temporary conditions, made us incredibly welcome and were disappointed that we couldn't stay for the whole day. The short time we spent with them is an experience I will never forget, not only for the amazing photographic opportunity but especially for the warmth of the hospitality and genuine hand of friendship extended to us.

This was my first ever visit to the Middle East. I don't pretend to understand the politics of the situation, but my simple understanding is that the Bedouin people used to travel freely thoughout the whole region but no longer have that freedom. Security issues and tight border controls have separated and isolated the various tribes, stifling their traditional nomadic lifestyle. In Sinai, recent droughts have made the desert areas even more inhospitable than normal, but development for tourism has forced them out of their only bolt hole when the desert is barren - the lands along the coast. The Bedouin way of life is disappearing fast. Some have welcomed the opportunities that change can bring, but others have not. Some of the local Bedouin have found work in the building and running of tourist hotels, but in general most of the jobs go to men from the major cities, mainly Cairo. The March 2009 issue of National Geographic magazine covers the issues affecting the Bedouin of Sinai and makes fascinating reading.