Image Story - Moroccan Desert Dweller
One of my favourite images from the Sahara was this image of a young girl in M’Hamid, in southeastern Morocco, walking in the haze towards home as the wind whips across the desert.
How did it happen?
My auberge (hotel) was on the outskirts of this remote, hot, and dusty town. In the late afternoon after the sun had set, the locals start moving out from town to the fringes and beyond, and kids come out to play in the cool of the afternoon.
A simple way to get interesting photos is to stand in a spot and just let the world pass you by, which is exactly how this image came about - I just walked out to catch the afternoon light and stood in a spot to see what might happen.
I saw her approaching before she walked past me, clearly caught up in her own world…Whatever song was playing in her head prompted her to break into dance as she walked, reminding me of David Bowie’s Let’s Dance film clip from back in the day.
No red shoes in this scene (as per the song) but a red dress instead.
She walked past and I managed to get two or three variations of the main shot. That was it, really.
So who was she?
Coincidentally she was the daughter of a Berber family near my auberge that invited me in for Moroccan tea one afternoon. To my surprise she happened to walk in somewhere between tea and an arm wrestle.
But that’s a story for another day, I’ll get to that road trip soon.
Until then, here are the lead up photos to the Desert Dweller.
