Looking for Daenerys Targaryen in Astapor – Street Photography in Magical Essaouira with an Olympus E-1

Astapor in Essos

Game of Thrones. I took a while to watch the series, having read the (Song of Ice and Fire) books when they were released many years ago I wasn’t too keen on watching the Film makers vision play out to ruin my own vision, and instead waited for the hype (and my thoughts) to die down before sitting down and binge watching the lot a couple of months back.

What can I say? Brilliant Television for the first 4 seasons, followed by a downhill trend resulting in a disappointing further 2 seasons and an awful final 2.   I’d still rate it all as one of the best TV series to watch even if the finale left a bad taste in the mouth. I can only imagine how people felt who had watched it religiously and waited with baited breath year after year for the new seasons to be released – judging by IMDB I reckon they’d want their time back!
Here’s to hoping George R R Martin does the right job with the final two books; that’s if he manages to finish them.

The series was filmed in Northern Ireland along with Iceland and other parts of the world. The scenes set in Essos, featuring The Dragon Queen and her Court were mainly filmed in a little picturesque Harbour and fortress on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, in a town known as Essaouira, or As-Sawira as it is pronounced in Arabic.

If you haven’t seen the series, do so, it’s not quite family friendly but at least the sex, nudity, violence, blood and gore is an important part of the story rather than gratuitous. The cinematography is top top drawer stuff, so if you’re a lover of such things (as I am) you’re in for a treat. (Talking of cinema, on an unrelated note to this post, I’m working on an idea for a movie, shot with stills, much like a graphic novel, but that would have to be photographed on Film).

Essaouira is a holiday destination and features picturesque coastline, a bustling fishing port, fine beaches, surrounded by miles and miles of Argan Trees which are famed not only for the oil produced but also for the Goats on Trees. Alas I didn’t get to see any goats on trees, it seemed as if the goats were having a day off when I went to pay them a visit.

The other main feature of Essaouira is the Medina or Kasbah, the fortified walled city, completely surrounded (as in other Medinas such as in Marrakesh) by high walls, ramparts, narrow streets, Riad courtyards, open plazas, gardens and other features, accessed by large gates usually given names as they’re important landmarks.

The Queen and her soon to be “Unsullied” Eunuch Soldiers were gathered around various recognisable places such as the Ramparts and the Squala du Port (Pictured below). I did take the usual touristy photos as shown Here on this useful Game of Thrones reference site, but only because my Missus asked me to take pictures of her there for her ticker tocker Facebook thing.

Essaouira has stood here for a good couple of thousand years, but the Fortress and Walled City was built in the 18th Century by King Mohammed III. The Fortification was designed by an Englishman, or rather an English renegade called Ahmad al Inglizi, Ahmad The English.

After the disaster that was British Airways (left my luggage in London and wasted three days of our Holiday) and The Tourist Trap rip off which is Marrakesh, it was a relief to arrive here, it was cool and breezy, with Summer late July temperatures hovering around the mid 70ies to 80 odd degrees – very unlike the 100’F+ furnace in Marrakesh! So I set off to find Daenerys Stormborn, hoping my wife wouldn’t mind and bust my claat.

Geoff Chaplin probably won’t like this (hehe), as shooting colour I mainly concentrated on getting the lovely Blues to the fore, composition and looking for any form, colour and point of interest – whether animal (Cats and Gulls are everywhere) Human or landmark. I like having a point of colour especially, with the abundance of colourful clothing this wasn’t difficult. The sky was mostly a wonderful blue, but as you can see at times we had haze and a lot of wind.

The “Street” in the title above is just click bait, I can’t do street. My stuff (Travel) is solely about composition and colour with People (Gulls and Cats) in the scene to give it some life, they’re also just quick snaps taken while out with the family, with photography being a by-product. So not comparable in terms of technical excellence to others and to the following: Here’s a Leica Ambassador’s proper dedicated ‘street’ photography in Essaouira, Very good (also very digital) and very “street” https://www.walkingphotographer.net/essaouira-street-photography Or rather I assume this is street, I’d never be able to do this, partly because I don’t find it all that appealing, also walking around firing off shots of strangers doing things takes time, patience and balls, with I guess (in these digital days) sifting through thousands of images to pick the right ones, it’s also quite ‘Marmite’ as far as photography is concerned (much like postcardy landscape photographs with the same vivid dawn or evening light – yawn!); you either love it or don’t like it. There doesn’t seem much in terms of harmonious composition in the wealth of street photography out there (including this Leica one) and seems chaotic and a mess in my minds eye, giving me a sense of panic and wanting to close the screen. It’s also an example of black and white – I don’t think B&W works here, this could’ve been shot anywhere, lacking what gives the place its distinctive vibe and look (Blue mingled with other colours, the warm Medina walls and stone work), Reminds me of ‘…you miss out all that heavenly glory..”. Feel free to disagree as what constitutes appealing or to like is subjective and very personal. I’m not saying my stuff are masterpieces, they’re just colourful snapshots giving a sense of the place, which I’m fond of and others will dismiss as crap, I speak of photography in general.

The Harbour leads into the Medina or Kasbah, the ramparts and fortress walls are part of the same encircling structure. Once inside you pass through plazas and labyrinthine narrow little streets, all rich with life and all buzzing nicely. As I mentioned, cats and gulls are everywhere, Muslim countries have lots and lots of cats in the cities; with cats being quite important and respected in Muslim folklore. The Medina walls are dotted with a few large City gates, which lead out into the more modern parts of the City, which apart from the Coach Station and area around the Medina, I didn’t explore.

Essaouira used to be predominantly Jewish, Sephardic Jews made up more than half of the population; with a Jewish quarter and many old Synagogues, along with obviously Jewish symbolism in Arabic to be found around the city. Alas, nearly all subsequently left after the founding of Israel.

Around the Medina itself, passing through the squares and plazas you’ll be met with white washed buildings, a prominence of blue paint and splashes of colour, all beautifully enclosed by the warm tan coloured walls, towers and ramparts. The Mosques here are quite like Churches, as they do not have domes and minarets (having next to no Byzantine influence) but have towers and gabled roofs, in the Moorish style.

And finally we have the coast proper; the rocky shoreline whipped by frenzied Atlantic ocean waves, constantly driven by the Trade Winds which continuously blow and give Essaouira the title of The Windy City. The Lovely beaches spread out in a U shape for miles, with fine yellow sand and the blue Atlantic sprinkled with boats, Surfers and WindSurfers and mile upon mile of Desert sand where you can go nuts on Horseback, Camel or Quad bike (Great fun all three!)

Snapshots with The Olympus Evolt E-1 and Closing Thoughts

Essaouira is lush, filled with life, warmth and character, it’s simply a Photographers paradise; wherever you point your camera you’ll see a Photograph. Normally when travelling I’d almost always make portraiture my main focus, but after really enjoying the Zeiss Ikon Contessa S310 and other small zone focus cameras to shoot urban photos and street snaps, along with inspiration from Scott Fergusen, Dave Pauley, Geoff and others, I continued the trend and found myself loving it; Look – see a picture – point and shoot – mostly at f11 to f16 when outdoors in good ISO 100 light. I almost always required maximum depth of field (bar my portraits – not included here), even zoomed out at 120mm. I think I may have shot a few frames at ISO 200 for scenes such as alleyways and with slightly lower light.

Bear in mind this was a family holiday and not a Photography trip, I didn’t have time to shoot anything except quick snaps and certainly couldn’t plan any Golden Hour type careful photography, so the experience with fast little zone focus snapshot cameras was very useful.

I took only one camera; my Olympus Evolt E-1 with the 12-60mm f2.8 – f4 and 50mm f2 Macro lenses. I filled up one 4 GB CF card with about 270 RAW images, of which 263 were 100% worthy keepers. It was difficult to choose photos for this, but I hope this careful selection gives you an idea about the flavour of the place and the output from this Kodak sensor. Thank Hamish for allowing me to submit as many as I have done.

The Camera performed brilliantly in all conditions I put it through; of course, with its limited dynamic range and 5 MP Kodak CCD sensor I had to be selective and use it within its limits. I took good advantage of the lovely natural yet saturated colour palette which I am now very familiar with, along with the limitations and I thrived doing so. This camera is lovely, All types of Skin tone are nailed, and in my opinion the blues especially are gorgeous, it also loves yellows, reds, pinks, purple and excels with natural pleasing greens. The light balance is also perfecto! No need to touch it, so all I did was tweak each image slightly the usual way in LR5 – levels, and boosted the shadows in some shots when warranted; have to be careful with this as too much and you’ll get noise! The more I master this camera the more satisfied I am with the results. I shoot as with Film, providing the light is right I knew I’d get the picture I wanted. In comparison the photos taken with my wife’s iPhone 15 Max were awful, flat lifeless fakery. I tried some comparison shots and the old Olympus smashed the smartphone from here to Sunnyvale.

Anyway, I came to Essos, I saw Astapor, I failed – I didn’t find Daenerys Targaryen, nor her Unsullied, and the Good Masters were probably holed up in their Palaces hidden in the Kasbah.

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