Rue des Siaghines, a photo from Tangier, North

Photographer's Note

I have thought about posting this one a couple of times before. In fact, I already posted it as a WS of a Mav_Erick's post that by coincidence was shot 11 years before from the same exact point this one was. I am aware that it isn't a particularly pretty photo or street, but I sense in it much of Tangier and its busy street life, somehow reminiscent of Southern Spain and more broadly and with some imagination, also of the first half of the 20th century.

This is pretty much on the shopping and tourist centre of the town. The street traverses the old part of the town (also called medina, the Arab word for town commonly used to refer the older parts of the towns), connecting one of the landmarks of Tangier, the Grand Socco with the harbour, passing through another famous spot, the Petit Socco (photo of it on this WS), which lies just after the visible part of the street. The oldest blocks, more genuinely Arabic and the old fortress are to the left and the more 'European' blocks are to the right.

As you can easily guess, the light was rather tricky and what you see is the result of some pseudo-HDR done with PP - I used two merged layers, one to compose the brighter areas and another one to compose the darker areas. I am aware that there are still burnt spots, but it would be very hard to avoid such oe on light subject under that blazing sun.

I have a more recent post showing the inside of the restaurant from where this one was shot.

Tangier (or if you prefer, Tanja or Tanger) is one one those places that attracts me a lot, much more for its atmosphere than for its intrinsic beauty and I am far from alone on that, considering the number of writers, painters and other artists that fell in love with the place to the point of living there, some of them most of their lives, perhaps the most famous one being Paul Bowles. I am fully aware that the way we feel the places has a lot to do with what we heard and read about it and the fictional idea we form about it, but too many times the places are rather disappointing once we visit them, specially if one had high expectations, which actually wasn't my case. It's really hard to describe what I like in it and I guess that doing it in a foreign language isn't the bigger difficulty. Seen from away, from the sea when we came by ferry from Spain, or from the hills near the sea, is actually a beautiful city, a white spot that sprawls along a beautiful bay, with a large sandy beach and hills on both sides. It looks very Mediterranean and Arabic. But as soon we enter, one gets mixed feelings about it: its crazy traffic, some less clean areas, the urban chaos (much less extensive than it looks at first), reminds me of a 3rd World metropolis; in other occasions and places it seems remarkably Western, sometimes modern, more frequently much early 20th century. It is surely a Moroccan city, but one still feels the atmosphere of the times it was an International Zone ruled jointly by France, UK, Spain, Portugal and lately also by Italy, US and USSR.

It's a very cosmopolitan place and I guess it has always been in all its long history, that started as early as the time of the Carthaginians, that settled a colony there in the 5th century BC. Then it was the capital of a Roman province for 5 centuries, then came the Vandals, the Byzantines, the Arabs and the Portuguese, who ruled it from the late 15th century until 1661, when they gave it to King Charles II of England as part of the dowry from the Portuguese princess Catarina de Bragan鏰 (another part of the dowry was the Indian city of Bombay, Bombaim [the male form of 'good bay'] in Portuguese, now officially Mumbai, which was the first British possession in India). The English didn't stay for long and abandoned the city a few years later and the city lost much of its importance until the 19th century, when it began being ruled jointly by France, UK, Spain and Portugal. It was given back to the Moroccans in the year of its independence, 1956.

There are a couple of episodes that struck me much. One of them was the first 'monument' we visited: an Anglican church from the 19th century that is still used for religious services. It has a well cared garden that is also a British cemetery with many tombs from the 19th and 20th century and it is just 100 meters from the entrance of the medina. Another one is the incredible night life, specially on the street bordering the beach. Much like in Spain, everybody seems to go to the street before and after dinner, provoking a huge flood on the streets with people talking and strolling around.

Location (latitude, longitude): 35.78544,-5.81102

robertosalguero, pboehringer, Atousa, sadeik, salvator, oanna, Steft, vagabondtravels, feather, jwmunro, vincz, sarahnatalie, batalay, danos, riclopes, xuaxo, adores, ruisc_pt, nszeretlek has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

ribeiroantonio (22730) 2007-04-28 23:27

Esta � a ideia que eu tenho das cidades de Marrocos. Com閞cio por todos os lados, gente na rua com vendas ambulantes, muita cor e muito ambiente. Para mim, est� uma imagem muito bonita e totalmente satisfat髍ia. A 鷑ica coisa que n鉶 gosto l� muito � do tamanho da nota. Pessoalmente tenho tend阯cia a n鉶 ler quando as vejos enormes.
Ant髇io

[2] +

pboehringer (770) 2007-04-28 23:42

Finally a shot of Marroco showing also the urban site, Jose, and I'm glad that you finally got over the doubt of posting it. It is a pretty good documentary of the a typical part of Tangier that I only saw from 10km way when flying over on my way from Brazil to Europe. The details of daily life, busy and colorful street sellers ... etc, including the old architecture, all showing a richness of the place.
TFS, Peter

[3]

robertosalguero (292) 2007-04-28 23:45

Hola Jose. This is a busy street with merchants and shoppers. The atmosphere is reminiscent of the place where I grew up. The note is very good, long and detailed. It explains very well the historic importance of this place. The processing you did on the image is very good. I don't notice flaws so it looks great. Thanks Jose.

Roberto

[2]

leo61 (0) 2007-04-29 1:56

Hi Jose!
Your POV for this shot is well choosen,so we can see a long part of thisroad and many old facades.A very sharp image and I like to see the seain the distance.
Regards,Leo

Atousa (7131) 2007-04-29 2:03

Salam,
Its full of life and I like it.
Thanks for the long detailed note.
Atousa

sadeik (3282) 2007-04-29 4:20

Good to see daily life, a busy day in this town
Lots to look at and inspect.

Simon

salvator (19110) 2007-04-29 4:36

Hi Jose,
Superb daily life scene, very nice composition. The use of light, the colors, the sharpness is superb. I wish you a great Sunday, best regards. Salvator.

marioana (2256) 2007-04-29 5:08

Hi Jose.
Very good. Great typical scene from a place like this. Might have been good also in a vertical crop, to follow with the lines of the street and buildings. Lots of great interest and good sharpness and colour. Well done.
Regards, Steve.

twilight (42) 2007-04-29 5:40

Beautiful photo I love morocco

Steft (6109) 2007-04-29 8:26

Hi Jose,
Very good photo of daily life. There is really a lot to see here and the photo is very colourful. Do I see water in the background?
I hope the police (in the middle) were not trying to catch you!
Stef

vagabondtravels (6511) 2007-04-29 9:39

Hi Jose

Nice pov looking down this street. Very sharp with good detail and vibrant color. Nice capture of daily life. Well done.
Ben

feather (51130) 2007-04-29 11:43

You had a fantastic POV to show as much of the street as you could. I can't think why you were doubtful about posting it. There is such a lot of interest to see. Very good PP work too; I'm impressed.
Kath

[2]

UnTrained (0) 2007-04-29 12:42

Ol� Jos�,
busy daily life capture with good light management. Looooong note full of history. I like the high POV of your capture, which opens the street for the eye.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

jwmunro (286) 2007-04-29 15:38

Hello Jose -

I don't know what your hesitation was all about this is a good image and worthy of posting on TE. It portrays daily life in non western countries very well and it is well exposed. There is a high degree in contrast here with the deep shadows and brightly lit street but your PP has been handled extremely well so there is some detail in the shadows without increasing noise all while maintaining the highlights. Since hind-sight is 20/20 I think a portrait composition with a little less of the foreground buildings would look a little better and it would focus our attention more on the street activity. Anyway, just my 2-cents. Well done, Jose!

Thank you for sharing.

John

paura (25802) 2007-04-29 19:02

Jos�,
� uma bela composi玢o para mostrar o dia-a-dia desse lugar. Posso dizer que se parece um pouco com algumas regi鮡s do Brasil, apesar da indument醨ia peculiar do senhor de branco a direita.

Paulo

sothy81 (9646) 2007-04-30 2:10

Hi Jose,

This is a very nice daily life photo. Love how crowded it is. I miss this crowded place a lot. Here in Texas, everything, and everywhere is hug... everyone drives... no walk.. that pisses me off. Well done with this pic

Sothy

vincz (19113) 2007-04-30 4:41

C'est une tres belle image Jose avec un excellent point de vue ur cette rue en descente et qui nous fait si bien decouvrir la vie de cette rue. Tres colore abvec beaucoup de lumiere entre les murs des immeubles qui bordent. On devine la mer au fond. Une tres belle photo.

Greg1949 (9011) 2007-04-30 7:35

Jose, I love this one. This view is what I think makes places special and rememberable, it is alive and next time it will be different than it is today. Nice capture, colorful, saturated, detailed and a fine POV.

Greg

sarahnatalie (697) 2007-04-30 9:18

Hi Jose,
There is so much to look at in this one that I can see it would be difficult to know what to crop out; however, I think it probably would be more effective in portrait format. I would have the same problem, though: what to take out!! It's a great image, lots of activity, nice POV, great daily life shot. Lovely!
Sarah

batalay (41261) 2007-04-30 12:40

Hello Jos�,

A very informative note, accompanying this slice-of-life photo from Tangiers. I might have written you about it before, but one of the finest students I've ever had was a young Moroccan (I believe he is finishing up his degree PhD in theoretical physics at the University of Texas), and I have curious about his world. The brilliant colors of the Mediterranean come thorough, and the perspective is compelling.

Have a good week, my friend,

Bulent

Docarmo (9767) 2007-04-30 14:46

Ol� Jos�,
Gostei muito desta foto, uma excelente tomada.
Aquele cantinho de mar atr醩 do casario � bastante atraente.
Abra鏾,
Maria do Carmo

Charo (51290) 2007-04-30 20:32

Hola Jose,
Me gusta esta calle llena de vida cotidiana ocupando todo con sus mercanc韆s.
Muy buena tu nota y excelente POV.
Saludos cordiales
Charo

Benedict (7076) 2007-05-01 1:28

the middlewalk vendors steal the scene here which makes this a foto that is full of life. i like the POV and clarity as usual. morocco is fascinating!
benedict

riclopes (35577) 2007-05-01 3:04

Bom dia Jos�, excelente nota t鉶 comprida (cansativa, � um facto, mas muito boa - quando n鉶 � copia integral do wikipedia, costumo ler tudo o que � uma chatice ;-) N鉶 h� d鷙ida que te expressas bastante bem em Ingl阺. O PDV � espectacular e a imagem mostra bem a atmosfera de rua que apesar de animada, n鉶 deve estar ainda no seu pico de actividade. Confesso que depois de ver a foto do Dirk, fico a pensar no enquadramento vertical, para mostrar mais rua e menos edif韈ios, mas n鉶 tenho muito a certeza disto, porque tamb閙 n鉶 queria perder o pessoal que se v� � direita - a verdade � que o corte aqui � frente est� muito apertado e apetece-me ver mais. Seja como for � uma vista muito boa.
O que � HDR?
Lembrei-me muito de ti nas f閞ias, pois andei a passear para os lados de Portalegre (e depois de ver os teus 鷏timos posts...)
ricardo

danos (110407) 2007-05-01 3:40

Ol� Jos�,
an excellent daily view of the Rue des Siaghines.From that i see,except from the merchandises of shops,exist also and other tradesmen that stretch out their treatise in the middle of road.Excellent the colours,the perspective and the light of your shot.Well done.
Regards,Danos

xuaxo (6854) 2007-05-04 15:03

Ol� Jos�!
Gosto destas cenas de rua. Realmente, tirando os letreiros em 醨abe, faz lembrar certas zonas do sul da Europa (incluindo norte de Portugal) ou da Turquia, principalmente h� uns anos atr醩. (H� muitos anos li que em tempos na Europa (centro, norte) havia d鷙idas se a 羏rica come鏰va no Atlas ou nos Pirin閡s...)
Quanto � nota tamb閙 a acho longa (percebo a tua resposta ao Ant髇io sobre essa quest鉶). Mas acabei por ler algo que estranhei: "...being ruled jointly by France, UK, Spain and Portugal." Eu sabia que Tanger foi uma zona de protectorado internacional, mas n鉶 tinha ideia que Portugal tamb閙 esteve metido nisso.
F

adores (46979) 2007-05-21 19:17

Al� Jos�!
Estava-me a escapar esta! Gosto dela, � mesmo Marrocos!A composi玢o est� 髉tima, mostrando a rua com tantos detalhes.Muito bem captada!
Anabela

RADEEH (2802) 2007-06-02 21:44

Hi Jose
This street view of Tangier is almost simiilar to Mumbai (Bombay)of India .The POV is perfect to enjoy this street. I thinks are very well handled.Thanks for this excellent documentary shot and the detailed note on Tangier the African town.
Rgds
Radeeh

mikeo (12129) 2007-08-06 11:01

Hello Jose,
Very good photo. You cought the climate of this street perfectly. Very good POV and sharpeness.
Good job!
Greetings,
Aga

ruisc_pt (11594) 2008-03-02 9:01

Faz parte do nosso imagin醨io e hist髍ia
Uma nota fabulosa Jos�... e uma imagem n鉶 menos atraente e bela
Obrigado
Rui.

nszeretlek (1199) 2010-01-18 8:28

Yes , this in Tangiers as you have described in your note . The picture has energy and something that traps one inside , the sense of chaos , solid colours and strong lights ...I love this picture !

Thanks for sharing !

A pleasure

Photo Information

Copyright: Jose Pires (stego) (24132)
Genre: 风景
Medium: 彩色
Date Taken: 2006-07-23
Categories: 日常生活
Camera: Olympus E-300, 14-45 mm Zuiko Digital
Exposure: f/8, 1/180 seconds
More Photo Info: view
Map: view
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Travelogue: Morocco 2006
Theme(s): busy city streets, Streets and Alleys, !People, !Top rated ex [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2007-04-28 23:05
Favorites: 1 [view]