Photographing Morocco: light, locations, and what to plan around

The single biggest factor in Morocco photography isn't the location, it's the time of day. Medinas in Marrakech and Fez are harshly lit and crowded by mid-morning, then transform in the hour after sunrise and the two hours before sunset, when the light turns warm and the crowds thin out. A route built around those windows gets more usable images than one built purely around a list of landmarks.

Chefchaouen's blue lanes are the clearest example: photographed at midday, they're flat and full of other visitors doing the same thing; photographed at 7am, the light rakes down the walls and the streets are close to empty. The same logic applies to the Sahara, where sunrise over the dunes, not midday, is when the shapes actually show.

Dust and sand are the practical hazard, more for gear than for you. A basic dry bag, or even a plastic sleeve, for a camera body during a camel trek or a windy afternoon in the dunes is worth the minor inconvenience: sand in a lens mount is a genuinely bad way to end a trip.

Beyond the obvious sights, working with a guide who knows a neighbourhood well matters more for photography than almost any other kind of trip: the interesting frame is rarely the one everyone else is already standing in front of, and a local route through a medina's workshops and quieter courtyards usually beats the main square.