Moroccan Photography Competition #2

A farnatche in Fez (click to enlarge)

Today's entry comes from Thami Benkirane who has this to say about his beautiful shot:

In traditional Moroccan towns there are communal, public Moorish baths. The responsibility of heating the water falls upon the 'farnatche' (a term that probably comes from the Italian). This man uses sawdust and bits of wood.

In the neighbourhood I grew up in, in the medina, there was a bath and a farnatche. Not long ago I had the chance to go and photograph him. Two shafts of sunlight pierced the shadows through two small, grilled openings high on the wall and the light fell on the large cauldron of boiling water.
I didn't have a tripod or much space to move. That's why the 24mm Nikkor open at 2.8 was necessary

Dans les villes traditionnelles marocaines, il y a des bains maures collectifs et publics. La charge de chauffer l'eau de ces bains est l'apanage du "fernatché" ( terme qui nous vient probablement de l'italien ). Ce dernier use comme combustible les sciures et les chutes de bois.

Dans le quartier de mon enfance, situé dans la médina, se trouve un bain et un fernatché. Il n'y a pas longtemps, j'ai eu le loisir d'aller le photographier. Deux faisceaux de lumière solaire perçaient les ténèbres depuis deux petites ouvertures grillagées pratiquées en haut du mur qui surplombe le gros chaudron où bout l'eau...
Je ne disposais ni de trépied ni de beaucoup de recul. C'est pourquoi le 24 mm Nikkor ouvert à 2.8 s'est révélé nécessaire.

You will find more of Thami's fine photgraphs here.

All published photographs will automatically be entered in the photography competition in October when The View from Fez celebrates it's fifth birthday. Prizes will be announced nearer that date.

If you would like to submit a photograph taken in Morocco, please email it in jpeg or gif format to fes.riad@gmail.com and put "photo entry" in the subject line.