CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

These were a pair of Moroccan wooden statues at the oasis where we had dinner after our quad bike safari  into the desert.  The textures and striking poses of the one metre (three foot) high carvings drew my attention and I set about taking several shots on my X100.  I set the lens to a very wide f2.8 aperture to give a shallow depth of field, throwing the background out of focus nicely. Images taken on a Fujifilm Finepix X100 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION If you like what you see on this blog please visit our  Facebook  page and click 'like' MORE IMAGES CAN BE VIEWED ON  FLICKR  AND ON OUR  WEBSITE

The Koutoubia Mosque or Kutubiyya Mosque is the largest mosque in Marrakech, Morocco.  It is located in the southwest medina quarter of Marrakech. The mosque is ornamented with curved windows, a band of ceramic inlay, pointed merlons, and decorative arches; it has a large plaza with gardens, and is floodlit at night. The minaret, 77 metres (253 ft) in height, includes a spire and orbs. It was completed under the reign of the Almohad Caliph Yaqub al-Mansur (1184 to 1199), and has inspired other buildings such as the Giralda of Seville and the Hassan Tower of Rabat.     For more information on the Koutoubia Mosque CLICK HERE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION If you like what you see on this blog please visit our Facebook page and click 'like' MORE IMAGES ...

After the sights and sounds of the Souk in Marrakech we had the opportunity to spend a few hours exploring the edge of the desert from the saddle of a quad bike and what fun we had.  I have only been on a quad bike once before but I have sone plenty of off roading in 4x4 vehicles when I was in the Royal Air Force and felt quite at home. All of the images in this blog post were taken on my Fujifilm X100 using either the standard 23mm f2 lens or with the wide angle converter fitted to make it a 19mm f2. The Fujifilm coped admirably with the dusty conditions and produced a memorable record of our day in the desert. Quads and Buggies are the mode of transport in this part of Morocco We were picked up at the hotel in Land Cruisers and taken out to our start location around 15km outside Marrakech.  After a quick briefing and demonstration we saddled up with most of our party on quad bikes, with three others in buggies. We set off in two groups,...