I traveled light: Fujifilm X-M5, handheld only. I walked early and late to chase long shadows and cooler air. I worked street-level in Marrakech, then followed roads through Dades palms and desert tracks toward Merzouga. I shot in short bursts, then watched. I let conversations set the distance.My visual logic stayed strict. Color leads. Composition stays quiet. I favored clean planes and human scale. I exposed for skin and midday texture, then used shadow as punctuation. In post, I culled fast in Lightroom, built a gentle profile to protect reds and deep blues, and kept grain natural. Sequencing came last: I arranged frames by temperature of light—arrival heat, desert hush, oasis green—so the story reads like dusk settling.

I pushed three tracks in parallel. With people, I worked on earned proximity. I greeted first, photographed second. I let gestures lead the frame—hands tying a turban, a boy pausing in shade, a group sharing a fence rail. I kept two distances: a respectful mid-shot that holds context, and a closer cut when the moment invited it. Eyes and posture set the rhythm.

With locations, I treated space as character. Marrakech gave noise and angles; Dades offered carved rock and long shadow; Merzouga was pure horizon; palm groves in the south carried cool green after heat. I mapped each stop by light—where it hits, where it hides—and returned when the air thinned and colors deepened.

Composition was the lever. I started wider to anchor people to place, then slid to tighter planes to isolate color and texture. I tested low vantage points to let sky and dunes swallow the frame, then raised the eye line in alleys to respect height and privacy. I tried symmetric setups and rejected most—they felt stiff. Diagonals and negative space carried more life. Across edits I kept skin true, reds steady, and left grain where it breathed.

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