Waiting by the blue doors

Posted by
Aaron Schmidt (Auckland, New Zealand) on 13 July 2007 in Cityscape & Urban.

In the old city of Essaouira, I wandered around with my tour guide, Jamel. Jamel told me that his name meant "camel" ... the similarity being apparent (once you know). He carried my backpack filled with water and snacks as I drifted around taking photos. The girl sitting alone by the blue doors made me think about her life and what it would ever become.

Canon EOS 20D 1/400 second F/9.0 ISO 100 22 mm

Comments (13)

Helen from Melbourne, Australia

I like the blue and white and the interplay between the varied window shapes and the decay. Really interesing shot.

13 Jul 2007 6:52am

Dimitrios from ATHENS, Greece

SUPERB

13 Jul 2007 12:33pm

Rags from Plano, United States

Such a sad pic. Makes me think of the power of the image. You took a really nice pic. It is rich with detail and emotion.

14 Jul 2007 12:56am

{H} creatives from Santa Clara, United States

Wonderful....the composition is great! Love the how you captured the subjects at 2 opposite ends...and the colors are just wonderful!

14 Jul 2007 2:35am

Jason Kravitz from Brussels, Belgium

that is a charismatic building - kind of wish that other guy was not in the shot (is that Jamel?)
hard to imagine what one's life will become without experiencing the world through that person. This might just be the greatest day of her life!

14 Jul 2007 9:38am

@Jason Kravitz: Yeah, it's Jamel in the shot. Thought about composing the shot without him but I think it works well with him there.

Morris J. Chisholm from Thunder Bay - Land of the Sleeping Giant, Canada

Great shot and I agree about him not being in the shot. Otherwise its a great capture.Did you get to take any close ups of the girl?

14 Jul 2007 12:43pm

Shuva Brata Deb from Hyderabad, India

I like that person though in the picture.

14 Jul 2007 1:00pm

Madhavi from Worcester, United States

Beautiful decaying old building. Captured it really well the blue with the crumbling white. I agree with the others him not being in the shot. Did you try this in B&W?

14 Jul 2007 1:37pm

Allan Schmidt from Canada

It would not be too hard to remove Jamel from the picture with Photoshop. It would then be another amzing shot to frame & put on your wall.

14 Jul 2007 3:04pm

Dave Transom from Aucks, New Zealand

Nice shot bro. This reminds me of my visit to Capadoccia in Turkey - pretty far away from the world we live in.

15 Jul 2007 12:52am

Evelyn from New Milford, United States

The scale is very striking, with those people in the photo. Jamel kind of looks like a tourist in this photo.

21 Jul 2007 3:25am

marc from vincennes, France

Not bad! it look like (a little ) the photo that Bresson took in madrid in 1933. The one wth the windows and the children playing.

24 Jul 2007 10:08am

Justin from New Zealand

Sorry to be crude, but when you say he has similarities with a camel (once you know), which part of his body are you talking about?

29 Jul 2007 7:12am

@Justin: I was referring more to his hard-working nature and his willingness to carrying to my backpack for me. He did have kind of flat nose but I didn't see any other physical characteristics.

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