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The_Traveler

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Mid-Atlantic US
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www.lewlortonphoto.com
Can others edit my Photos
Photos NOT OK to edit
I was editing some pictures taken on the northern edge of the Sahara and I came across a snap I had taken of some seashells embedded in the mud brick of an abandoned village.

seashells.jpg I was curious and looked up when it is estimated that this desert was at the bottom of some sea. It turns out that a vast inland sea called Tethys was dried up about 7 million years ago, at the same time as the movement of tectonic plates caused the formation of the Alps and the Mediterranean. So these seashells are more than 7 million years old.

I was intending to edit an image of this very intelligent, charming and lovely Berber woman (she told me she was 32, hence the title of this thread). Since dogs are haram (forbidden or proscribed by Islamic law), they are poorly treated and this lovely person runs a dog sanctuary in Marrakesh. She funds this sanctuary by working as a photo and fashion model, which is how I met her. (She also accepts donations on paypal and you can inquire of me by PM for her paypal address.)

Ibtissam__DSC8730_pp.jpg

I am not much interested in shooting models and just went along not to be a killjoy but it is impossible to overstate the impact of sitting in a Berber tent, drinking French wine and looking across the fire at a beautiful woman speaking French.

goat herdDSC01472-Edit.jpg
 
Very interesting post. The lady must be very brave as well as beautiful!

I know Ibtissim only very casually, but she is a friend of a friend of mine who speaks very highly of her. She runs a dog shelter in a country where dogs are considered, at best, nuisances and, at worst, evil. It takes nerve and independence and sacrifice.

https://www.facebook.com/ibtissam.aitmericha/
 
Great photos and story.
Thanks.
Every moment seems to generate a story.
I said before in another post that conservative Islam is negative towards photographs of individuals and the desert dwellers are very conservative. With his herd, the herder was skirting the area where we were shooting. I was 300 yards plus from this man. When he saw me with the camera, he began waving me off, telling me not to take a picture.

This brings up the issue of cultural sensitivity, what should I respect, which we could talk about but preferably not in this thread.
If anyone would like to start this in discussions, do so and I'll give my opinion.
 
She is stunningly beautiful, with a brain and heart!!

The shots are fantastic, and love the work.

The cultural aspects are found world wide, and here in the US and especially in the SW the reasons are not so religious as exploitative in nature.
 

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