Lesson Info
35. Creating the Maroc Project
Lessons
Meet your Master
01:26 2Learn from the journey
15:24 3Using inspirations
08:43 4Photography is stopping time
09:27 5Albert's library of ideas
08:30 6Tips on preparing for a portrait shoot
12:10 7Setting up the studio
04:56 8Understanding studio collaboration
07:35The importance of casting and hair & make-up
08:59 10Foreground studio set up
08:46 11Studio session with a model - set up 1
11:23 12Studio session with a model - set up 2
05:55 13Studio session with a model - set up 3
08:01 14Picking the best shot
03:36 15Working with photoshop
13:14 16Creating a portrait of Alfred Hitchcock
04:18 17The gigantic question... Colour or black and white?
07:55 18One day with Kate Moss
05:06 19Learn to have your ideas ready
06:14 20Using Polariods
06:29 21Creating beautiful photographs of hands
04:45 22Controlling natural light
05:38 23Shooting a monkey with a gun
06:27 24Choosing your format
07:13 25Composition and lens
04:47 26Shooting landscapes. The Isle of Skye
15:18 27Planning and ideas for a landscape shoot
06:32 28Creating still life images
13:48 29Photographing the Lost Diary
10:53 30Shooting album covers
03:09 31The Strip Search Project
10:28 32Shooting Las Vegas landscapes
08:24 33Photographing Breaunna
07:21 34Balancing daylight, God bless America
03:45 35Creating the Maroc Project
10:21 36Creating the Maroc shoot
08:11 37Photographing sand dunes
04:09 38Photographing Moroccan children
10:42 39Advice on making portraits
10:12 40How to be alert to finding photographs
07:35 41Making a portrait of Mike Tyson
02:39 42Creating intense colour in a photograph
03:04 43Portraits of rap stars and a Golden Boy
08:40 44Photographing Jack Nicholson
04:20 45Creating a portrait of David Cronenberg
02:14 46How to light only using two $10 bulbs
07:29 47Studio fashion set up 4
10:47 48Studio session with a model. The geography of a face
13:05 49Look inside the picture
02:56 50Creating memorability in an image
02:54 51Combining nudes and landscapes
04:52 52A perfect print
07:50 53The business side of things
06:50 54Conclusion and farewell
03:55Lesson Info
Creating the Maroc Project
(mysterious music) In 1978 French Vogue asked me to do a trip to Morocco where I'd never been before. And I came down, I stayed in Mamounia Hotel in Marrakesh. I found it very exotic, very interesting. And then over the late seventies and eighties I had a few visits here doing fashion stories. I was never here for that long, maybe five, six, seven days maximum. And then in 1992, 93, 93, 1993. I ended up coming down to Marrakesh. The magazine rented a house for me. And then another magazine heard I was here. And I ended up being here doing various jobs here. Advertising and editorial, for a period of five weeks in total. They flew different models in from New York for me and also down from London. And in fact, at that time there was a wonderful part of the shooting was an entire day that I spent doing nudes on Kate Moss. That was really a wonderful experience and I ended up doing the shooting on her 19th birthday. So it was a very interesting trip. So the reason that this was importan...
t this trip, was I was here for five, nearly six weeks. And at that point my wife said this house that we're staying in is wonderful. Why don't I rent the house for the family and we'll bring all of your relatives down from Scotland and you can stay in this house. We can rent this house for Christmas time you know? Over Christmas and New Year. Which I thought was a horrible idea you know. The idea of Christmas and New Year with all of my family in a Moroccan house was a bit odd. Anyway in July of that year she said I've already booked the house and paid the money. So of course once you pay the money if you're Scottish then you're definitely gonna go. And we ended up staying 10 days in this house and we actually had a fantastic time. I at this point really began to love Morocco. And love the country, the people, the whole history of the country I loved. I decided the following year to rent another house and the following year rented again. Different house and the souk and the market. I just developed really a love for Morocco over these couple of years. And then I ended up in the house that we're in right now. Which is the guest house of my house. And I started to build. In 1996 I decided to build my own house in Marrakesh. In the Palmery just outside. I really just at this point wanted to spend part of the year here. 'Cause I was living in New York but I wanted to spend part of the year in Morocco. And I loved it. Now at this time, just out of the blue, the Prince of Morocco who is now the king. Contacted us through actually an Italian company. And he wanted me to do a book on Morocco. And to call it Morocco. Which I later changed 'cause I preferred Maroc, which is the French title for Morocco. And it was really a perfect time for me 'cause I was building this house here. I was able to bring a crew over from New York. And I began what turned out to be 39 days of travel throughout Morocco. The prince emphasized to me that he wanted it to be my project and as long as I was just photographing in Morocco then he was happy with any of the pictures. So I began the project. And I knew that I had tremendous freedom. I just began conceptualizing the project. Began to really study history and geography. And laying out how I would do this project. How I would do possibly in the beginning six days of shooting. Take the film back to New York. Process the film. How was I going to present the final work? Was I going to do it in a more traditional way and I decided to do that. I decided to do it mainly in black and white and duo tones. And later expanding that into cyanotype prints, into platinum prints. I came across this store in the souk in Marrakesh. And I found this pile of old vellums that were books on magic with a lot of Arabic lettering on them. And I decided to take those back to New York. I washed a lot of these pages and treated them and pressed them. And then I did directly on to these papers. I did platinum prints of the very shots that I had done in Morocco. So of course I was going to, as I would always do, I was of course going to fill the book with landscapes, with still lifes, and of course most of all with the people of Morocco. I worked in the Deep South and part called Laayoune. Which is really deep in the Sahara with of course lots of classic sand dunes. I photographed the Saharawi people that live in the desert there just outside of Laayoune. And I photographed politicians in Rabat. Businessmen in Casablanca. I photographed a lot of course in Marrakesh, which I was very familiar with in Ouarzazate, which is on the other side of the Atlas. I photographed in snow and in the desert. So I basically did of course all my research, which is important for students to do. That I did not only history but of course the geography. I was plotting out the whole time how did I want to make it like a diary? In fact when we completed the project, I found out that they were going to publish the book in Italian and English and not in Arabic. So to make that work which I thought was sad because Arabic lettering is so beautiful. I actually contacted this famous calligrapher who was in New York at that time. And I decided to write on all of the photographs, the title of the images in Arabic. And he was actually the calligrapher to the Shah of Iran at one point. Of course he had this superb Arabic calligraphy. That made the book not only in Italian and also in English. But of course with the Arabic lettering it made the book in Arabic as well. So I really did it as a caillet, which is French for diary. And it was really at one point it was going to be called 39 Days in Morocco. And I thought you don't need that. I ended up just calling it Maroc. The book was printed in Italy. It was done on a 10 color press. Which was really wonderful. I was able to separate some of the color images, which were really not true color. They were cyanotypes. And I did a lot of work with inks and layering on some of the images done in a very simple way 'cause it was before the computer. And really created this textural book on Morocco. As I said with the 10 colors we were able to separate duo tones, black and whites from the color images. I did the photographic layout but I had a very good typographer work with me on the graphics of the book. My early training in graphics is very helpful to me and I did the, how the cover was and if you look at the cover of that book, when I saw the printing of the cover. I had felt that missing on the cover there was this blue yellow. And missing on the cover of this blue yellow black. I felt a little smudge of red would be good. I was able actually on the plate itself to get some red ink and just with my thumb smudge some red onto the cover. For me it was very nice. It was a real art project. And of course in between doing this fine art project, which I think is really important for photographers to do. To carry on with their own work. Of course I would be going back into New York and working for Italian Vogue, French Vogue, German Vogue, English Vogue. Shooting celebrities for Rolling Stone et cetera, et cetera. And in the nighttime doing platinum printing, cyanotech printing on 100 year old, 200 year old paper. That was very much at that period of my life. That was what I was doing you know. As well as directing TV commercials virtually at the same time so it was quite difficult and complex. But it was really a wonderful, wonderful project, Maroc. And the end, the prince, the king, was delighted with it and he loved it and he said it's his favorite book on Morocco.
Ratings and Reviews
Richard A. Heckler
"Unless you're Mozart"...this course is an invaluable asset. I'm a pro, humanitarian/documentary photographer, & wilderness...and I've learned much from the 40+ sessions here. This is truly a Master Class...next best thing to being with Albert. And although I could watch studio sessions forever, this course offered a very balanced curriculum of technical information, artistic encouragement and guidance, and a open, generous window into the thinking of a gifted artist and photographer, sifted from decades of first class experience. Kudos to all involved. Excellent!
a Creativelive Student
I purchased my first CreativeLive class in 2011 and have continued to purchase many classes over the years. I have learned so much from the many great instructors. This one is not a technical class that will tell you to set your camera at f4, 1/60, ISO 400 and you can get this shot. If you are looking for that, there are many other options. If you have a solid working knowledge of photography, this class is so much more. The way it was filmed is like you are there with him in conversation or in the room with him watching him shoot. To see and understand the how and why he does what he does. Not to take anything away from other classes that have helped to give me a strong understanding of photography, this is my favorite CreativeLive class so far.