A short journey in some of Morocco’s beautiful wonders as seen through my phone’s camera
This story is told by my dear friend Yassin, in this post he’s telling us about his love to photography and the place that this passion holds in his life. By reading his story, you will get an idea of how mobile photography get people to fall in love with Photography and embrace the simplicity of life. he also shares with us some of his beautiful and unique pictures in Chefchouan (the blue pearl) and Volubilis.
I don’t know actually how to start and where to start from but I guess this as a beginning can make you imagine the amount of feelings photography – like any passion or hobby – leaves you with. Always accompanying you, it doesn’t matter where you are, when you are or how you are. You just do it. Because, although I might seem to be exaggerating a little bit, it’s something you can’t live without.
I often like to think of photography as a tool that helps you memorize moments better, or re-live certain memories if you will.
When (The history)
It all started with a small, cell phone that everybody used at the time, it was some sort of a phase that we all had to go through at some point. Whether it was phones, games or cartoons..anything it didn’t matter, what mattered the most was that everyone was just living the moment.
Now this phone didn’t have the greatest camera based on today’s preferences of course, but it was really considered something because to know the few tricks of photography on that phone back then meant a lot. So you either had to know your way through or just make it up as you go.
As I had described before it was just a phase all the same, I feel like a part of me developed a passion for photography after I had started missing the time I used to paint when I was a kid. I loved to do that randomly when I absolutely had nothing to do, no responsibilities, no attachments. You would just come from school excited to watch your favourite cartoons and later do what you like to do. Was it playing games outdoors with your neighbor, having fun with your relatives..it was all about having fun. But for me, most importantly it was more about painting or drawing what my eye witnessed in those cartoons or as I looked through the window of my room when it was summer and everybody would be outside having fun.
My idea of having fun was that, when I also would join them later I liked to take a moment to capture those moments. It all relates at some point because I am the kind of person who often lives in memories, and it always has been like that. The phone I talked about in the beginning of the paragraph was mostly used for experimenting so when I made an upgrade to an iPhone (the 4S and that was back in 2015), it allowed me to actually take photography seriously and make my theoretical ideas come true.
Here are one of the very few pictures I took with that phone when I was traveling:
When (The history)
When talking about the place, it consists of those soul-searching journeys where you will witness a thousand unique moments that you maybe might not even get to experience again.
Traveling really does help refresh one’s soul if you may say, it is important for the human being to travel every once in a while to break the routine that is life. What makes traveling even more enjoyable and memorable is when you take a camera with you to capture anything that makes you pause and just admire whatever it is that caught your attention, whether it’s an animal in the wild with a magnificent sunset in the background, the sight of a diversity of flowers blooming in the spring, or snowy mountains and a sky full of stars.
I have been to a lot of places where I experienced those ‘pause’ moments but the ones that affected me the most were when I went to Volubilis last year’s fall..It was not clear as to what exactly made me feel the sense of belonging but to know for example you’re standing in the same place romans stood centuries ago. But aside from that, the architecture, the views, the localization of the area was just breathtaking.
These are my most favourite photographs I took while I was there, although they may not seem a lot but for me they represent a journey where I felt sane again, where I felt like I was a reborn and reincarnated soul. It’s super rare when I experience those exact emotions of rebirth, kind of reminds me of the healing mythical bird of the Phoenix.
I hope you enjoyed this story, stay tuned for more and don’t forget to follow me on Instagram for more content.
Written by :
Yassin Drissi a 22 year, currently working as a client adviser in Microsoft (tech support).