Holidays in Morocco: Photography, Cooking and a Balloon ride.
Holidays in Morocco have never been as enticing. With low cost airlines offering routes into Marrakesh and Agadir there’s a wealth of opportunities for a week of culture, adventure, sun and relaxation. We specialise in photography and cooking holidays in Morocco from our base in the historic port town of Essaouira. Unlike other holiday companies we’re located here so we like to think we can provide the best up to date information to make your holiday a fantastic experience.
The Sutton’s recently chose to take a Morocco Holiday here in the relaxing Atlantic port town of Essaouira to celebrate an anniversary. They immersed themselves in a week of different activities including photography workshops, cooking classes, music lessons as well as a balloon ride. They stayed in the Riad Maison du Sud, which is our chosen accommodation in Essaouira, a splendid authentically restored 18th Century house in the heart of the medina and each night they dined at a different restaurant offering a range of culinary experiences.
Photography Workshops
Learn how to take photographs that really capture the essence of a place. We specialise in photography workshops for beginners that focus on how to use your DSLR.
Moroccan Cooking
Take classes in the intricacies of Moroccan cuisine and learn how to make wonderful Tagines which includes a spice market tour and some spices to take home.
Horse Riding
Explore the dunes of Essaouira. It’s magical approaching sunset on Essaouira’s vast sandy beaches. Suitable for beginners and experienced riders.
You can also choose to get into the groove with our very own music maestro, Abdellah who teaches how to start playing the bongos. He’ll jam along of course so you can miss the occasional beat.
You can also round off your holiday with a balloon ride in the valley of the Atlas Mountains. For a holiday in Morocco, choose your own personalised itinerary for the week with price starting at £805pp. Email info@photomaroc.co.uk to make your reservation.
In a diversion from the Essaouira based photography holidays the year’s first Morocco photography tour kicked off with Mike & Colin arriving in Morocco in early October to grab some great photos of Morocco’s Anti-Atlas. Both carrying Nikon kit Colin, Mike, Ali, Naima and myself set off in the Toyoto Prado 4×4 after a night in Marrakesh(and celebrations amongst the local ladies after Morocco’s victory in football) and headed for the Atlas mountains and Tiz’n’Test pass where we enjoyed a superb Berber omelette in one of the remotest but beautifully situated cafés you’ll ever find. Late afternoon we arrived in Taraoudant and quickly set to work in the setting afternoon sun hunting the light and finding it warmly glowing against the town’s impressive medina wall. 
Both Mike and Colin had some solid photographic holiday experience behind them but this photography tour Morocco bound was a chance to take advantage of the golden hour of light most landscape photographers set their clocks to. A few shots in the bag were supplemented by some very comfortable rooms at the guesthouse in Taraoudant. The next day after an excellent breakfast we drove about 4 hours to Tata stopping en-route at a village where we were befriended by a local chap who guided us via his moped at rapid speed around the village. It was hugely entertaining and both M & C got some portraits of local women. The route to Tata is impressive offering the emergence of Morocco’s desert. Tata itself made an impression on us for its remoteness and look of the people who are much darker than further north but it’s a town that could really do with a makeover. Still the landscape feels Saharan although there is not quite the dunes found in Merzouga further east. Rattling through the late afternoon light, down tracks in the 4×4 took us to a one wonderful spot overlooking a valley. M & C made great use of the fading light on a ridge looking down on to the desert.
Photography is all about finding the light and here in Essaouira it’s usually in abundance but on a photographic holiday you want to explore the range of photographic opportunities. Night time photography offers something completely different when street lighting is the only source of illumination. Both Jackie and Ciaran were keen in the last week of September to take some photos of Essaouira’s atmospheric backstreets and alleys. The old fortifications combined with the night time sea air are suggestive of a town unchanging and of course this is part of Essaouira’s charm. The main challenge of night time imagery is firstly to be able to see what one is doing so at the very least always take a small penlight with you. Most DSLRs have an illuminated LCD screen but that can be tricky to see when your camera is positioned at head height so a torch will help you see the camera’s screen at the back. Of course you’ll also be using a tripod and this helps both steady the camera for slow shutter speeds and also slows down your working processes which can help you think about better compositions.
Rather fittingly Cat was rather keen on the local moggies who aside from sleeping and receiving their generous fishy titbits are numerous in the streets of Essaouira. She also took a shine to Mika at Cafe SidiM’Bark. The cat calendar, which I keep threatening to subject past course attendees to, is nearing its best 10 images of feline dispositions within Essaouira. Cat is currently studying for a degree in art at Bolton University and the galleries here specialising in African art perfectly complemented her emerging photography.
Post Ramadan and more galleries are coming together in the first few days of September. Jay as seen left produced 4 outstanding galleries of photographs, particularly in architectural subjects and at the fishing port here in Essaouira, probably the best collection of port photos yet. His active participation at the Argan co-operative shows the perils of not using the histogram to check over exposure(note the hotspot on Jay’s shoulder). No fault of Jay, but yours truly. Jay’s work can be seen via this