§ Workshop — Foundation
SKIN, SAND AND SILENCE
Ouarzazate, Morocco
Departs · 24 May 2027 · 7 days
Participants · 6 · Spots remaining 5
A photographic descent into raw earth, shifting light and desert silence. Between ancient walls and distant dunes, the body becomes the measure of the landscape, where skin meets sand and photography learns to listen.
This is not a journey through Southern Morocco made to collect places. It is a slow descent into a substance older than ourselves: raw earth, shadows falling sharply across walls, wind shifting the sand and turning every distance into a question.
We arrive in Ouarzazate on Sunday, while the group still carries in its eyes the city it has left behind and the landscape has yet to ask anything of us. Everyone travels with their own passport, and where it helps, we assist. This is the moment of welcome, of a shared table, of the first words exchanged. Eleven people: six students, Luca, three models and an assistant. A small, temporary community that, over the course of a week, will learn to look with greater attention.
Over dinner, before anything else, I explain something about myself: that I am Italian by culture, and for us conviviality is not a courtesy added to life it is essential to living it, and essential to living the places we inhabit. A table shared slowly is how a group actually begins to travel together, not the itinerary printed on paper. We do not set out to consume the desert; we set out to listen to it, allowing it to determine the rhythm.
That same day, Aït Ben Haddou reveals itself as a body shaped by light: earthen walls, stairways, thresholds and passageways where time seems to have stopped without ever becoming still. Here, photography encounters architecture not as a backdrop, but as a presence. Every portrait must understand where it stands; every figure must measure its scale against the landscape.
Tuesday takes us inside the Atlas Studios. This is a place where cinema has built cities, armies, palaces and memories that belong to no single age. Photography does not seek the anecdote of the film set; it looks for the tension between what was constructed to be seen and what, before the lens, can become mysterious once again. Beyond the studios the land opens out, and cinematic fiction gives way to a more elemental geography: the sets left behind in the desert, an abandoned petrol station, relics of films that have moved on. We work with the relationship between body, distance, fabric, shadow and horizon.
On Wednesday, the road carries the group south into the Drâa Valley, which unfolds like an ancient sentence: palm groves, earth, traces of passage, colours gradually becoming more austere. At Oulad Othmane, before Zagora, friends receive us in their kasbah. Evening does not bring the work to a close; it simply moves it elsewhere. The kasbah becomes an interior to inhabit photographically with its swimming pool, its rooms, its subdued light, and the possibility of making rest itself part of the narrative.
Thursday brings us to M’Hamid. It is not merely a geographical stop; it is a threshold. Beyond it, the desert assumes a different voice. Here, we photograph into the night and sleep in the desert, in a state of attentiveness, far removed from the noise of ordinary life. The models are not decorative presences placed within the sand: they become the human measure of the landscape gesture, silence, clothing, skin and shadow. Portraiture, fashion, glamour and, where the project calls for it, a more exposed image: every choice arises from the same need for precision.
On Friday, the group sets out for Erfoud and Merzouga. It is a long crossing, but not an interruption: on board, we rest, review the photographs, talk about photography and mentally reassemble what has been made, with pauses in villages where friends are waiting. The journey itself becomes part of the teaching. By the time we arrive that evening, everything must already be prepared: dinner waiting, the table laid, rooms assigned, no unnecessary searching in the darkness. The group enters the hotel as though stepping onto the next page of a story.
Saturday takes us to the works of Hannsjörg Voth near Erfoud: the Escalier céleste, the Spirale d’Or, and the Cité d’Orion. Three monumental presences in the desert, built from earth and turned towards the sky. They are not scenery; they are architectures of thought. Here, the photographic work encounters a larger question: how can a body inhabit the landscape without dominating it? How can an image preserve the mystery of scale, astronomy and matter? The towers, the spiral and the staircase become forms through which photography attempts to speak of that which cannot be measured.
Sunday belongs to Merzouga. The dunes of Erg Chebbi offer the group another kind of light more fluid, more open. The 4×4 enters the sand, the dromedaries wait, and the wind leaves traces that endure for only a few minutes. This is the day of synthesis: it is no longer a matter of searching for isolated images, but of understanding the sequence that is beginning to emerge. The desert never offers a neutral background; it forces us to choose. Every photograph must understand what it carries within it from the days before: the earth of Aït Ben Haddou, the cinema of Ouarzazate, the kasbah of the Drâa, the night in M’Hamid, the celestial architectures of Erfoud.
On Monday, we return to Ouarzazate. But the return is not a simple ending. We come back with a series still taking shape, with images that remain alive and with the responsibility to edit them, place them in relation to one another and remove what is unnecessary. What remains is not merely the memory of a week in Southern Morocco. It is a new grammar: the body as measure, the landscape as presence, light as a form of knowledge.
Because a workshop does not end when the journey is over. That is when the most difficult work begins: understanding what we have truly seen.
§ Field Work
Field Work
The wall that holds heat
Earthen walls in Ouarzazate do not reflect light so much as store it, then give it back slowly, off-schedule from the sky. A face lit by that returned warmth reads differently from a face lit by the sun directly softer, later, borrowed. Meter for the wall, not for the sky above it, or the return light disappears into a highlight that was never the point.
The wind that unmakes the frame
On open sand, contrast builds in minutes: a small step changes gentle modelling into a hard split between light and shadow. Work fast, decide the relationship shoulder against ridge, fabric against empty plane and accept that wind may undo it before the shutter closes. That undoing is not a lost frame. It is the desert's own edit, and it belongs in the sequence.
The travel diary
Our age hands us machines and calls them memory. They are fast, and the journey is not. The journey asks for the opposite of speed: it asks for pauses, for halts, for the hours when the body rests and the mind catches up with where it has been.
Carry a notebook, and write in it by hand. There are moments on every journey when you find yourself alone, for an instant, before the immensity in front of you. It is then that thoughts arrive which will never come again, and which no screen will keep for you. Fix them on the page, or they scatter into the dust, the sun and the wind of the day, and are lost.
A gift of your own images
Most of the advice I can give you is obvious. Protect your equipment. Keep your socks and shirts away from the dust, because pulling on a clean, fresh shirt is always a pleasure. Any traveller knows these things, and perhaps you know them already. I say them not to teach, but because a teacher leads by example.
But there is one thing I have learned over the years that I do not impose on you: I recommend it, with force. If you wish to build a real relationship with the people you meet, a gesture of tenderness, a gift, is the surest way. Travellers have always carried gifts to the peoples and the strangers who received them. And what is the most precious gift a photographer can give? An image.
My suggestion is simple. Take one of those small photo albums, ten by fifteen, and fill it with the pictures you love most, printed small. Give them to the people you meet along the way. Write on them with a suitable pen: hello, your name, thank you, whatever you wish. The print becomes a personal object, made for that person alone. It costs you nothing, and it is an extraordinarily powerful gesture.
And it will raise you onto another scale as a human being. You will no longer be someone who arrives, takes an image and leaves. You will be someone who gives something back, who leaves a trace of gratitude instead of only carrying one away. The people before your lens feel that difference at once, and they meet you as a person, not as a camera. That is where the finest photographs are born, and something more than photographs: a bond.
§ The Light Map
The Light Map
Late May gives the body and the desert a demanding light. On exposed ground, contrast builds quickly; a small change of position can turn gentle modelling into a hard division between brightness and shadow. We begin by finding where a figure can remain present without being overwhelmed by the sun.
From 24 to 30 May, sunrise around Ouarzazate shifts from approximately 06:27 to 06:25 and sunset from 20:21 to 20:24, in Morocco’s local time (GMT+1). At Merzouga, the corresponding times are approximately 06:16–06:13 and 20:10–20:13. The long day allows us to reserve open landscapes for lower light and to give interiors, shade and rest their own place.
The moon is waning after the full moon of 20 May, reaching last quarter on 28 May. Its rise moves later into the night as the workshop progresses. Darkness gains ground in the early evening, while the remaining moonlight becomes increasingly a subject for the later night and the hours before dawn. This is a different visual rhythm from a desert journey approaching full moon.
May’s climate averages in Ouarzazate are around 16°C overnight and 31°C by day, with stronger heat possible towards the lower desert. Sunlit sand and stone intensify exposure; the air temperature alone does not describe what the body experiences. Work with the models is paced around shade, hydration and recovery.
Among earthen walls and the dunes of Erg Chebbi, we look for a relationship rather than an effect: the fall of a shoulder answering a ridge, fabric interrupting an empty plane, a gesture that leaves the landscape its scale. Wind may undo the arrangement. That possibility belongs in the photograph too.
§ What You Will Learn
What You Will Learn
A body standing before an earthen wall can belong to it, resist it, or seem about to disappear into its shadow. Move the light a little, change the distance, wait for a gesture, and the meaning changes. This is where our work begins: with the relationship between what we imagine and the precise decisions that allow a photograph to exist.
Throughout the week, I will work beside you as we turn that relationship into practice. The village, the film set, the kasbah, the monumental architectures and the dunes will each ask something different of us. We will learn to recognise what the image needs, then choose and use the tools that can give it form.
Working with models
A photograph with a model begins in conversation. You will learn to communicate an intention clearly, to guide posture and movement, and to recognise the small changes through which a gesture becomes convincing. We will work with portraiture, fashion and the figure in the landscape, considering the relationship between skin, clothing, fabric, architecture and open space.
At Aït Ben Haddou, a threshold may hold the entire composition. Among Voth’s structures, the same person may become a small measure of an immense space. You will learn to direct with that difference in mind, giving the model room to contribute while maintaining a clear photographic intention. Attention to her comfort, boundaries and pace is part of how we work together.
Reading and measuring light
Before adding a source or moving a reflector, we will look at what is already there: the direction of the sun, the light returned by sand and walls, the depth of a shadow and the brightness of the sky. You will work with incident and spot metering, compare the exposure of skin and surroundings, and judge how much contrast your film or sensor can hold.
Measurement will help you decide which details to preserve and where a shadow may remain dark. We will connect those readings to aperture, shutter speed and sensitivity, so that exposure becomes a deliberate part of the image.
Shaping sunlight
We will work with SUNBOUNCE reflectors and diffusion tools to redirect, soften and shape the available light. You will see how the size, surface, angle and distance of a reflector change its effect on a face or body, and how diffusion can alter the character of direct sunlight.
Flags and negative fill will let us remove unwanted light, deepen a shadow and separate the figure from a bright surrounding landscape. The lesson is visible in each adjustment: a cheek gains volume, a highlight becomes quieter, a body finds its place against the earth. You will learn when a small intervention is enough and when the whole lighting arrangement needs to change.
Profoto flash and Arri led light
PROFOTO flash and ARRI LED lights will allow us to build on the natural light or establish a different direction within it. We will compare the working methods of flash and continuous light, choosing according to the image, the ambient brightness, the movement of the subject and the distance between source and model.
With flash, you will learn to balance the flash exposure with the ambient exposure, work within the camera’s synchronisation limits and understand how flash duration and ambient light affect the rendering of movement. With continuous light, you can observe changes in modelling and shadow as you make them. In both cases, we will consider power, distance, light quality and the relationship between the illuminated figure and the space around her.
Flags, filters and gels
We will use light modifiers, flags and grids to direct illumination and keep it away from areas that should remain in shadow. Colour-correction and creative gels will help us bring sources into agreement or introduce a deliberate difference between the warmth of skin and the surrounding light.
Lens filtration will be considered with the same precision: neutral-density filters for exposure control, polarising filters where reflections require attention, and diffusion where its treatment of highlights serves the photograph. You will learn to distinguish a change made to the light itself from one made to the way the camera records it, and to judge the result before adding another effect.
Hasselblad and the discipline of medium format
Working with HASSELBLAD will give us time to examine focus, tonal transitions, skin, fabric and surface with particular care. You will learn to connect camera position, lens choice and depth of field to the presence you want the figure to have within the frame.
We will compare ways of working across camera systems, considering handling, pace and the demands of the photograph. The important decision is what each camera allows you to see and how confidently you can bring that intention into the finished image.
The view camera and panoramic film
The view camera asks us to construct the photograph slowly. We will work with its movements to understand the plane of focus and the rendering of perspective, composing on the ground glass and attending to the relationship between the model’s position, the architecture and the available depth.
Panoramic film cameras ask another question: what happens when the frame extends well beyond the figure? In the desert, a wide field can hold the distance between a body and a dune, the interval between two structures, or the direction of a gesture across open space. You will learn to organise that width, control the edges and make the empty areas carry meaning. Film brings its own discipline of exposure, preparation and considered timing.
From a session to a body of work
Each day, we will return to the photographs together. We will examine what the light has done, whether the model’s gesture carries the intention, and how camera position or a different choice of equipment might have changed the result. These conversations will inform the next session.
As the week develops, you will begin to recognise relationships between images made in very different places. Selecting and sequencing them will help you understand the work you are building. The aim is to leave with greater independence: able to imagine a photograph, explain the decisions it requires, and bring light, technique and human presence into a language of your own.
§ Models
Models
The Models in the Landscape
The desert does not need the body in order to appear monumental. The presence of the models introduces something else: fragility, measure, gesture and human time.
We work with professional models as creative partners. They do not simply occupy a position selected by the photographer. They read balance, movement, light and physical tension, and their experience may lead the image somewhere the photographer had not anticipated.
Ask, Explain, Listen
Every direction is a request.
Describe what you are looking for. You may ask for stillness, movement, a change of posture or a different relationship with the light. Give the model enough information to understand the intention, then listen to her response.
Never touch a model to adjust her body or clothing without clear permission. Whenever possible, explain the change and allow her to make it herself.
A refusal is complete in itself. Hesitation, discomfort or silence are sufficient reasons to stop and reconsider the photograph.
Working with the Nude
The nude may allow the body to become line, volume, surface or measure within the landscape. It is not automatically more truthful, more daring or more important than a clothed portrait.
The model determines what she is willing to reveal, how she may be photographed and which angles remain outside the agreement. Consent to one image does not extend to the next. It is renewed throughout the session and may be withdrawn at any time.
The model is present for professional photographic work. Nudity must never be interpreted as personal availability.
Heat, Ground and Exposure
In the Moroccan landscape, conditions can change quickly. Stone and sand retain heat; wind lifts dust; exposed surfaces may be uncomfortable or unsafe. Before proposing a position, inspect the ground and understand what you are asking the body to endure.
Work efficiently. Prepare the camera, choose the lens and test the light before the model removes a covering garment or enters a demanding position. Keep water, shade, footwear and clothing immediately available.
When the model needs to rest, cover herself or leave the set, all cameras are lowered.
What Remains After the Photograph
Models are not photographed while changing, resting, eating or preparing. Informal portraits, mobile-phone images, video and behind-the-scenes material require the same explicit permission as the principal photographs.
Language must remain professional. Speak about the image, not about the model’s body as though it existed independently of her.
The agreed release governs every future use of the work. A photograph does not become ethically neutral because the workshop has ended.
The strongest images do not come from taking more. They come from creating the conditions in which presence can be offered freely.
Anna
Model and director of models. Trained by Luca Monti, Anna Ramfel chooses and prepares the women who work with us, knowing from experience what a photographer needs and what a model deserves.
Leïla
A dancer's patience with the wind: at her best when fabric and sand move together.
Mathilde
Still, grave, architectural: she reads a wall of earth and finds her place in its shadow.
§ The Itinerary
The Itinerary
§ Phase 01
Ouarzazate · earthen architecture
Welcome to Ouarzazate
Welcome to Ouarzazate. We will take this first day gently, allowing time to become familiar with the desert climate, local customs and the rhythm of the place. A short drive of around thirty kilometres will bring us to Aït Ben Haddou, the beautiful village of earthen houses recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I have returned here many times, sometimes with my wife, and there are friends waiting for us. Through them, we will discover a more intimate side of the village, away from the busiest visitor routes. There will be time to wander, to stop and talk, and almost certainly more glasses of tea than we had planned: it is difficult to pass a friend's door without being invited in. We will let these encounters set the pace, finding our feet in this desert world without tiring ourselves on the first day. There may be a little shopping along the way. Some of the shops belong to people I have known for years, and if something catches your eye, they will offer you a Moroccan price rather than a tourist one. I will also introduce you to a friend who runs a traditional Moroccan shop. He will have tagelmusts ready for you and will show you how to wrap and wear them properly a small lesson that will accompany us through the days ahead. We will continue exploring the old fortified village, with a pause for something delicious to eat at a local restaurant. By the end of the afternoon, we will make the easy journey back to our hotel in Ouarzazate, with a few new acquaintances and the beginnings of a feeling for the place.
§ Phase 02
Ouarzazate · cinema and the desert
Atlas Studios and the sets left behind
Today we enter the world of Atlas Studios, on the outskirts of Ouarzazate, only a short drive from our hotel. We will photograph within the studios and venture into the surrounding desert in search of old film sets left behind after the cameras and crews have gone. Between ourselves, I often find these abandoned places even more photogenic than the studios themselves. The wind has been working on them for years; an unfinished wall, an empty doorway or a fragment of an imagined city can suggest a photograph that no complete set could offer. There will be plenty to do with our cameras, but very little travelling. We can give our attention to the models, the light and the spaces around us without spending the day on the road. The Oscar Hotel, within the studios complex, also gives us a pleasant choice for lunch: its restaurant, something prepared for us to take away, or perhaps even a table laid on a film set. We can decide how the day should unfold without having to leave this world behind. This year, we have signed an agreement with a film production company in Ouarzazate, extending the permissions we already hold for photographic work within the studios. It opens further possibilities for a day devoted to making images, with the comfort of our hotel still close at hand.
§ Phase 03
The Drâa Valley · Oulad Othmane
A kasbah, friends and a pool in the desert
We leave Ouarzazate and begin our journey south, breaking the road to M’Hamid into two days so that there is time to enjoy what lies between. In Oulad Othmane, a beautiful village in the Drâa Valley before Zagora, friends are waiting to welcome us to their small kasbah. It is a place I want you to have time to discover: the village, its earthen buildings, the people who live there, and the quieter life of this part of the Zagora province. Our friends have also offered us private use of the hotel's lovely swimming pool for a photographic session with our models. Water, skin and the warm tones of the kasbah will give us an entirely different setting from the open landscapes of the previous days. We will eat at the hotel and enjoy our hosts' hospitality, allowing this stop to become part of the journey in its own right. By taking the road in stages, we can arrive at M’Hamid the following day with the energy and curiosity it deserves.
§ Phase 04
M’Hamid · at the gates of the Sahara
Where the desert opens
We set out early for M’Hamid. Another friend will be waiting for us there, a man from an old nomadic family who still worked with caravans when he was young. Through him, we will come to know something of the village that a passing visitor rarely encounters: the life behind a doorway, a remembered route, the familiarity between people whose families have known this landscape for generations. Here, at the gates of the Sahara, we will meet the camel handlers and spend time getting to know the dromedaries themselves. These remarkable animals will accompany us, carrying equipment and becoming part of our photographs alongside the models. We will work with patience and complete respect for them, guided by the people who know and care for them. Beyond the village, the dunes begin to open the landscape. There is room for a figure to become small, for fabric to lift in the wind, for the eye to travel much farther than the body. Among the high slopes of sand, we will make photographs with the feeling that the Sahara has already gathered us into its immensity, although we are still only at its threshold. We will give ourselves time there. Some places make you breathe differently.
§ Phase 05
The long crossing
From M’Hamid to Erfoud
A day of rest for you; for us, perhaps a little less. We leave M’Hamid and make the long crossing towards Erfoud, travelling through landscapes that deserve to be watched even when the camera is resting beside you. We will break the journey with stops to eat, stretch our legs and take our time outside the vehicles. These pauses will bring us into beautiful villages where we know people and can enjoy a welcome along the way. There is no reason for a long drive to become an uninterrupted succession of kilometres: a meal, a conversation and a little time in the shade belong to the journey too. You can settle back, watch the country change and let us take care of the road. By the end of the crossing, we will reach the Erfoud area and our base near Merzouga, ready for the days of photography ahead.
§ Phase 06
Erfoud · Hannsjörg Voth
Architectures turned towards the sky
Today belongs entirely to photography among the extraordinary works of Hannsjörg Voth: the Escalier céleste, the Spirale d’Or and the Cité d’Orion. Out on the open plain, their presence feels improbable. A stair rises towards the sky; a spiral turns towards the earth; towers give the constellation of Orion a form we can stand beside. We will take time with each of them, working with our models as the light changes the relationship between a body, a wall and the immense space beyond. A figure can reveal the scale of a structure, then almost disappear within it. The photographs will ask us to consider where to stand, how much distance to leave, and how a small human gesture can inhabit such monumental forms. There is something wonderfully unsettling about these places: they seem at once ancient and imagined, as though someone had built a fragment of a dream and left the desert to complete it. We will spend the day following those possibilities before returning in the evening to our hotel near Merzouga.
§ Phase 07
Erg Chebbi · dunes and evening light
Skin, sand and the last light
We devote the day to the dunes of Erg Chebbi, photographing with our models and the dromedaries in a landscape that the wind is continually redrawing. A ridge, a line of footprints, the curve of an animal's neck: a few elements can hold an enormous space. We will work patiently with the camel handlers, giving the animals their own pace and allowing our compositions to grow from the encounter. The dunes offer changing distances and viewpoints, and time to explore how the body belongs within them close enough to see a gesture, or far enough away to become a small presence against the sand. Towards sunset, we will stay with the light as shadows lengthen and the contours of the dunes become more pronounced. There is no need to hurry away from a landscape at the very moment it begins to change. We will let the evening give the photographs their final direction. The seven-day workshop concludes on Sunday evening. On Monday morning, we will organise the return transfer to Ouarzazate at a relaxed pace.
§ Accommodation
Accommodation
The arrival · Ouarzazate
The journey begins in Ouarzazate, with accommodation planned at the Berbère Palace or a property of equivalent character and standard. The arrival night and the welcome dinner are offered by London Photographic Workshop, allowing the group to meet before the first working day.
The Drâa · towards M’Hamid
Along the Zagora axis, the proposed base is Kasbah Oulad Othmane or an equivalent locally rooted property. The choice will follow the rhythm of the route and the need to reach the desert without turning accommodation into a detached luxury interlude.
One night at the desert threshold
Near M’Hamid, one night is planned in a carefully selected desert camp or lodge. The purpose is not spectacle, but proximity: to remain close to the sand after the last light and to be present when the landscape begins again at dawn.
Merzouga · Erg Chebbi
For the eastern chapter, the proposed first choice is Sunrise Palace, with Sahara Pearl Hotel retained as an alternative of comparable role. Both keep the group close to Erg Chebbi and allow the photographic day to begin before the dunes are marked by heat and movement.
The table along the road
Breakfast will usually be taken at our hotels, although on certain days it may be enjoyed on the road, as part of the journey. Dinners will be arranged in the selected properties or in carefully chosen places along the route. Lunches will always be local and characteristic: shared either on the road or in a restaurant that belongs to the landscape and culture of the place we are passing through.
The final night
When the route returns to Ouarzazate, the final night before departure is also offered by London Photographic Workshop. Confirmed properties and the final room plan will be communicated once the operational route and group requirements have been closed.
§ The Equipment
The Equipment
§ Photo Gear
Photo Gear
Ouarzazate in May: kasbahs, dunes, old film sets, and models who have to stay luminous in a light that is already hard by nine. The bag here serves two things at once: the body and the desert.
What the desert does
Dust is the constant. It rises from the ground, from the wheels, from the hem of a dress in the wind, and it enters wherever a lens has just come off: change lenses in the shade, turned away from the wind, or not at all. Between ten and four the sun flattens everything and exhausts everyone, the models first. We work in the shade of the kasbahs, and wait for the evening.
The list
Working with light
We do not fight the sun: we shape it. A SUNBOUNCE screen held overhead turns midday into open shade and moves with the model; reflectors give back the light the kasbah walls take away; flash holds the sky when the body must stay in shadow. You work with all of it, every day.
Ziplock
Resealable ZIPLOCK bags, two for every piece, and BONGO TIES to hold down cables and covers: the lightest protection there is against the sand, and the one you will be most grateful for.
What we bring for you
There are a few wonders in our bags for you, too. Medium format cameras to pick up and use, including the splendid HASSELBLAD X2D II 100C. A complete set of LEE filters with matte boxes, SEKONIC light and colour meters, a COLORCHECKER. And because we work with models, the light comes with us every day: PROFOTO and BRONCOLOR flash, ARRI continuous light, SUNBOUNCE screens and reflectors, MATTHEWS grip and POCKETWIZARD triggers.
And then there is Luca, your guide: a true fine art photographer read: a rather unusual photographer. Do not be surprised if view cameras, ultra-panoramic film cameras and other delightful oddities emerge from his bags. Shh… they are part of the experience, too.
Need a backup camera, a particular lens, a tripod, a head or a monopod? Tell us before departure so we can plan what to bring. Our enthusiasm is considerable. Our carrying capacity has its limits.
§ Personal Gear
Personal Gear
A week that runs from the film studios to the dunes, with one night at the edge of the Sahara. Pack for the heat of the day and for that night.
A week with models in the desert asks you to look after two bodies: theirs and yours. When the photographer is thirsty, burnt or cold, it shows in every frame, and the models feel it first. So I ask you to pack as a film crew packs, not as a tourist does: light, precise, ready for the heat of noon and for the one night we spend at the edge of the Sahara.
What you bring
What we buy together
What we bring for you
In a waterproof dry bag we keep what is easy to forget and hard to find from abroad: a local SIM card, and a loan phone if needed; a Starlink satellite connection wherever we sleep, even in the desert camp; a walkie-talkie; a first-aid kit; a satellite locator beacon and an emergency flare; a compass, a map case and printed maps; a tablet for every two people; a little local currency; a laminated emergency sheet; a phrasebook; document pouches; and your own printed copy of our unique guide.
§ Travel Conditions
Travel Conditions
Southern Morocco is a major international destination, connected to the world through several well-served airports. Our journey begins in Ouarzazate, the threshold between the Atlas Mountains and the desert.
If your departure city does not offer a convenient route to Ouarzazate, or if reaching it would require an additional domestic flight, simply tell us which Moroccan international airport you intend to use. London Photographic Workshop can arrange to collect you there and bring you to Ouarzazate, or if you prefer to travel independently provide the practical information needed to join the group, including suitable transport options, trusted drivers and local guidance.
Once the workshop begins, we will travel through Southern Morocco by private road transport, moving between Ouarzazate, the Drâa Valley, M’Hamid, Erfoud and Merzouga. Main transfers will use a VIP van. For desert tracks and remote sites, we will switch to suitable 4×4 vehicles, always driven by local drivers with expert knowledge of the specific route.
Part of our journey takes us close to the Algerian border, a closely monitored frontier where military checkpoints may be encountered. We will remain within Morocco throughout the workshop. Military personnel, installations and checkpoints must never be photographed or filmed. When approaching a checkpoint, put cameras away in their bags and keep your identification documents ready to present when requested. Remain calm, courteous and fully cooperative, and allow our local guide to lead the conversation on behalf of the group. Follow any instructions given by the authorities, including requests addressed directly to you. These checks should be approached with composure and respect: security procedures are taken seriously.
Final arrival instructions, meeting points, confirmed transfers and direct assistance will be shared with every participant before departure.
§ Safety & Accessibility
Safety & Accessibility
Travelling together
There is a particular rhythm to photographing in the desert. We begin together, but gradually each person notices something different. Someone stops beside a wall of raw earth; another follows the movement of fabric in the wind; someone else waits for the distance between a body and the horizon to become exactly right.
I want to leave room for these individual ways of seeing. Exploration belongs to the work, and there will be moments when you wish to move a little farther from the place where the group has gathered. You may do so, always in pairs. Before moving away, let me know where you intend to work, and we will agree on where and when to meet again.
In the desert, even familiar distances can become difficult to judge, and wind can quickly soften tracks in the sand. These simple arrangements allow us to follow our photographs freely while continuing to look after one another.
Planning, discussion & staying informed
Each evening, we will sit down together and look ahead to the following day. We will discuss the route, the photographic locations, the ground we expect to encounter, the time we are likely to spend outside and the equipment the session may require. Before leaving in the morning, we will return briefly to the plan and consider any changes in weather, access, road conditions or light.
A plan gives us direction, but it should never close the door to the unexpected. The desert does not become less compelling while we travel through it on the way to our destination. It is always worth remaining attentive to the landscape around us: unexpected encounters are part of the desert, and nothing prevents us from making an unplanned stop or a brief detour to follow a photographic mirage.
I want everyone to understand the day we are setting out into. This is also the moment to say what you think. A route may feel more demanding than expected; the heat, a long transfer or an activity may make you uncertain; you may simply prefer not to take part in a particular session. Whatever the reason, bring it into the conversation. You do not have to justify a concern before sharing it, and another person's confidence need not determine how you feel.
As the day unfolds, tell me about the smaller things too: tiredness, a headache, a blister, discomfort from the heat, a foot beginning to hurt or any feeling that is unusual for you. These signs are easy to dismiss when the landscape and the photography have absorbed our attention. Please mention them while they are still small.
Local knowledge, routes & vehicles
Our journey crosses Southern Morocco from Ouarzazate through the Drâa Valley and M'Hamid, before continuing towards Erfoud, Merzouga and the dunes of Erg Chebbi. It includes paved roads, a long transfer and remote desert tracks. We will approach these environments with experienced local guides, trusted drivers and vehicles suited to the conditions.
Main transfers will take place in a comfortable private van. Where the landscape requires it, we will continue in suitable four-wheel-drive vehicles with local drivers who understand the terrain.
Walking on earth, stone & sand
The surfaces beneath us will change throughout the workshop. At Aït Ben Haddou, we may move through passageways, thresholds, earthen stairways and uneven ground. Around M'Hamid, Erfoud and Merzouga, firm earth may give way to loose sand, stones or sloping dunes. Each surface asks for a slightly different pace and greater attention to where we place our feet.
Sand makes distances feel longer because every step yields beneath the body. Uneven ground requires balance, particularly when carrying cameras and lenses. Wear closed, supportive footwear with a reliable sole, and choose a camera bag that sits securely while leaving your hands free. A walking pole can provide useful additional support, even for those who normally feel entirely confident on their feet.
When something catches your attention, stop before raising the camera. Find a stable position, settle your balance and then begin to compose. The photograph does not become more urgent than the ground beneath us.
When deciding what equipment to carry, remember that every lens must travel with you even during the hours when it remains unused. Bring what you genuinely expect to work with and leave space for water, sun protection and the clothing the day requires. Reaching a photographic position with enough energy to observe it properly is more valuable than arriving with every piece of equipment you own.
Clothing, water & the desert climate
People who live and work in deserts have much to teach us about dressing for them. Loose, breathable clothing that covers the skin and a head covering that protects the head, neck and face are practical companions for long days outside.
Through the many years I have spent travelling in deserts, I have come to appreciate the tagelmust, the traditional Tuareg head wrap, particularly when working as a photographer. We may walk for some time with our equipment and then remain almost motionless while a photograph takes shape. A length of cloth that can be adjusted around the head and neck, or drawn across the face when the wind carries sand, remains useful through all these changes.
In dry air, sweat may evaporate so quickly that we barely notice how much water the body is losing. Keep your water somewhere you can reach easily and drink during the natural pauses in the day. During prolonged heat and exertion, electrolytes from food or an appropriately prepared drink may help replace some of the salts lost through sweating.
If feeling overheated is accompanied by headache, dizziness, nausea, confusion, unusual weakness or difficulty remaining alert, stop immediately and tell your companion and me. Rest, shade and cooling must begin at once, and more serious symptoms require urgent medical attention.
Desert temperatures can change quickly. Warm afternoons may give way to cold evenings, particularly when we work after sunset or sleep near the desert threshold. Bring layers that can be added or removed easily, together with protection from wind and blowing sand.
Sun protection
Desert light can be beautiful long before it feels severe. Cool air, wind or cloud may make a day outside seem gentle while ultraviolet exposure remains strong.
Bring a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with SPF 50 or higher, offering protection against both UVA and UVB. Apply it generously to all exposed skin, remembering the ears, the back of the neck and the backs of the hands. Renew it at least every two hours, and after heavy sweating or wiping the skin, following the product instructions.
Sunglasses and a secure hat or head covering are equally important. Keep your sunscreen close to your water, where it remains easy to find when the camera has taken possession of your attention.
Field guide & communication
Each participant will receive a carefully prepared printed Field Guide: a practical companion for the entire workshop. It will contain essential contact details, emergency information, maps, meeting points and the travel guidance needed for every stage of the itinerary.
We deliberately favour a printed guide over a purely digital one. In places where mobile data, network coverage and access to electricity may be intermittent, a physical document remains reliable, immediate and always at hand.
Radios will be provided in desert areas to maintain communication between participants, pairs, vehicles and the main group. Local mobile phones with Moroccan SIM cards will also be available for emergency calls and local communication.
No device replaces the simple habit of telling us where you are going and when you intend to return. These arrangements are not intended to make the journey rigid. They create the quiet structure within which freedom becomes possible.
Accessibility & individual needs
This is a field-based workshop rather than a journey through controlled indoor spaces. It includes uneven ground, sand, occasional steps and slopes, repeated entry into and out of vehicles, early starts, late finishes and one long road transfer. Some remote locations may not provide level access or nearby facilities.
That does not mean every participant must experience the programme in exactly the same way. If a walk, surface or photographic position is not suitable for you, we will discuss the available alternatives and identify another way for you to participate whenever conditions allow.
If you have particular mobility requirements, a medical condition, concerns about heat or balance, or any other need that may affect your comfort during the journey, speak to us before booking. We can then examine the itinerary together honestly and carefully, considering where adjustments are possible and where the nature of the landscape places genuine limits.
A group is made of individuals, each experiencing the same day differently. Knowing what you need allows me to take that into account and to give you the attention required to make the journey both meaningful and safe.
§ Post-Workshop
Post-Workshop
After leaving Ouarzazate, where raw earth, skin and shifting desert light had become one visual question, the images ask for the companions who learned to listen to that silence together.
I did not include six months of post-workshop contact by chance, nor as a simple service.
Many years ago, I was teaching an online course that could easily have felt impersonal. Instead, when it ended, the group did not want to dissolve. We had never all sat around the same table, yet years later we are still a living community. From that experience came conversations, magazines, books, friendships and shared ways of looking.
It taught me how valuable a small circle of people can be when they have lived and worked through an experience together.
For this reason, every workshop includes six months of continued contact at no additional cost, and those months are where the photographs are carried to their end, together. A private group keeps the images moving between us: feedback, and a tuition that goes on, fed by cultural prompts — a book, an image, a thought, an exhibition, an occasion that opens a new direction. Each of you brings your images to a master file ready for fine print, and then we sit down, one to one, before the finished work. Then the group meets again, and there is a particular pleasure in it: seeing how far each of us has travelled since we parted. A Second Eye, an editor or a curator, reads the work as the profession reads it. And the work takes form, a collective book or a zine, depending on the event, and a public life, on a gallery wall or in the pages of Follow the Light. The images do not go back into a drawer. They go out into the world, and they go out together.
The event ends. The adventure in photography begins.