Encouraged by your positive comments to my Jordan photos, I uploaded another attempt to make some shots along a book, this time "The sheltering sky" ba Paul Bowles, in Morocco. Any comments? Thanks in andvance! Wolfgang

Here's the link to The Sheltering Sky

-- Wolfgang (wgressmann@usa.net), April 18, 2002

Answers

There's some very nice photographs here, especially in the lower half of the page. The use of light is very effective. They are quite good.

On the other hand, having read The Sheltering Sky about eight times, I'm not sure that these photographs are particularly reminiscent of the book. The book was much more cryptic and the characters much more isolated. The horror aspects, the mental decay, it's very much missing in the photographs, and might be hard to shoot without more staged shots.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), April 18, 2002.

I really like #7, #16 and #19 from Morocco and the 1st 3 from Jordan. Very nice work, I envy your trip. I would like very much to see that part of the world. I recently found a book by photographer Harry Gruyaert on Morocco. Some of the best color photography I've ever seen. Although I don't speak German, I did pick up that all the photos were shot with Leicas and Kodachrome film.

Thanks for your post Tom

-- Tom Gallagher (tgallagher10@yahoo.com), April 18, 2002.

Wolfgang:

-- Dennis Couvillion (couvilaw@aol.com), April 18, 2002.

Wolfgang:

Very, very nice work. I especially like the lone figure approaching the archway. Reminds me of HCB. Great stuff. Thanks for sharing.

Dennis

-- Dennis Couvillion (couvilaw@aol.com), April 18, 2002.

These are what B&W photos are about! Nice touch & nice eye. I concur w/ the comments that these photos have little to do w/ the ambiance of Sheltering Sky. But that doesn't take anything away from the work. Wonderful composition in several of the shots. Great timing. Thanks!

-- Patrick (pg@patrickgarner.com), April 18, 2002.

Very nice, Wolfgang. I particularly like the photo on the bottom left, the man walking towards the archway. The shadows, of the man, and of the pyramid against the far wall, were worth waiting for.

By the way. What did you scan these with? I know it can be hard to scan b & w. Any tricks?

-- Christopher Goodwin (christopher.goodwin@gte.net), April 18, 2002.

nice job. you da man.

-- Dexter Legaspi (dalegaspi@hotmail.com), April 18, 2002.

A sure sign of a good eye-everyone in the audience has different favorites.

Mine is the one of the boy running on top of the wall. Perfection.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), April 18, 2002.

I like all of the photos. All the best,Don

-- Donald A. Wansor (wansor@optonline.net), April 18, 2002.

All the photos are fantastic but the ones that stand out to me are:

1. Moroccan banner with writing and man.

2. Man walking with Archway.

3. Man on rock isolated in sea.

4. Boy sitting, and boy running.

5. Woman with men looking.

6. Women showing hands. Wish there were more like this, close up wide wide angle lens, maybe a 35 or 28mm. Some distortion in this shot, maybe from angle tilting.

Lovely work.

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), April 18, 2002.

A lot of strong photos. My favorites are "man approaching archway" and "boy running along wall."

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), April 19, 2002.

with just a 21 and a 50, and a way to use them that you´ve got, great work Wolfgang, I like most of them.

Thank´s for share. I´m please to have people like you here.

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), April 19, 2002.

While most of the images are of high standard, I do not believe b/w used this way can convey what the visual richness of the scenes you were witnessing.

The Jam-el-fna and Marrakesh souk views beg for saturated colours. So do the fishing port scenes (Essaouira?)

I know quite a few of these locations quite well and feel like turning the colour "on" when I see most of your pics.

On the other hand 707668 and 707676 have a compositional purity that is very well served by your choice of media.

I have not always had an easy time photographing people in those places, and hope that you have managed to grab these life slices in agreement with those people...

-- Jacques (jacquesbalthazar@hotmail.com), April 19, 2002.

Wolfgang, Again, more great work, like the Jordan portfolio. I believe that Lutz asked in your last thread if you would share technical information (film exposure, development, printing, scanning technique, and so forth). Would be greatly appreciated by many of us.

-- Hil (hegomez@aol.com), April 19, 2002.

Wolfgang, nice to see the Jemaa! Colour would have been nicer, IMO, but nonetheless, a nice picture. I feel there's a lack of intimacy in these pictures (something I personally value highly), but maybe that's not what you want. I don't see the connection with Paul Bowles, I have to say.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), April 19, 2002.

Nice stuff, I'd be over the moon if these were mine!

Can you tell us a bit about your working methods for the shots that involve people, and how people reacted? For instance: Jordan-707506 and Morocco-707665 - were these done by asking consent first, or just while walking past? People's attitude towards being photographed seems to be something that varies enormously from place to place.

-- Michael Abbott (web@mabot.com), April 19, 2002.

Thank you all for your encouraging comments. All photos were made with Ilford XP-2. Not because I like this film, but that is what I could buy at the airport. Developed by normal lab. Scanned with Microtek Artixscan 4000, polished a bit in Photoshop 6.0. No other tricks. I did not ask for permission to take these shots. I believe, my M6 helped to keep me "invisible" as a photographer, and my friendliness and openess was accepted by the people. A regular guy who is just around.

-- Wolfgang (wgressmann@usa.net), April 21, 2002.